New panel will assess fire station's repair needs
Mayor Steve Noble has appointed a seven-member committee to make recommendations about possible repairs to Kingston’s aging Central Fire Station in Midtown.
Megan Weiss-Rowe, the city’s director of communications and community engagement, said in an email that the panel, which she referred to as a “working group,” will focus on a report by consultant C.T. Male Associates of Latham about the fire station’s structural.
“The working group is tasked with reviewing in depth the report prepared by C.T. Male Associates and offering recommendations as to next steps,” Weiss-Rowe said.
The panel comprises Noble; Aldermen Anthony Davis, D-Ward 6, Douglas Koop, D-Ward 2, and Steve Schabot, D-Ward 8; City Engineer Ralph Swenson; Kingston Fire Chief Mark Brown; and former Fire Chief Richard Salzmann.
Making needed repairs to the city’s Central Fire Station and bringing the building up to code would cost about $3.8 million, according to the C.T. Male report.
The report says $860,000 is needed just for new flooring and associated costs related to the fire truck bays in the building, which is at 19 E. O’Reilly St. and dates to 1907-08.
The total cost of the necessary work throughout the building would be $3,793,124.40, C.T. Male says in the report.
The report does not say whether it might make more sense for the city to build a new main fire station or what that construction might cost.
The city contracted with C.T. Male last fall, for about $53,000, to conduct a full-scale study of structural conditions at the Central Fire Station. The consulting firm was brought in after a company called Peak Engineering reported that steel reinforcements in the firehouse’s concrete floor, where the trucks are parked, had deteriorated significantly.
The Peak report said a section of the slab concrete was “saw-cut and chipped out,” revealing that some steel was missing.
A second C.T. Male report breaks the initial report into high-, mediumand low-priority needs in the 110-year-old structure.
The high-priority work alone would cost less than everything suggested in the initial report, but still in the neighborhood of $2 million
Work classified as being of “medium priority” would cost about $1.65 million, while “low priority” work would cost about $719,000.
In March, the Kingston Common Council voted in favor of the city spending up to $100,000 for asbestos removal at the fire station, primarily in the building’s basement.
Making needed repairs to the city’s Central Fire Station and bringing the building up to code would cost about $3.8 million, according to the C.T. Male report.