Fairfield council hears feedback on fire station

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield City Council listened to public comments Monday night about the proposed fire station at the corner of West Briggs Avenue and North Fourth Street.

The city is planning to hold a referendum on March 1 at which voters will decide whether to give the city authority to borrow up to $5 million for the new fire station, which is expected to cost $6 million. The city hosted a public forum last week at which information about the new building was presented, and the public was invited to ask questions. It will hold its second and final open house for the new fire station at 7 p.m. Thursday at city hall.

During Monday’s council meeting, Fairfield resident Ed Noyes hoped to change the council members’ minds about building the new fire station on West Briggs Avenue. Instead of demolishing the existing buildings at the site, which previously belonged to the Iowa Department of Transportation, Noyes offered to buy the buildings for $200,000.

“Even though I’ve been involved in this DOT thing and I’ve written letters to the editor, this specific proposal to purchase the property has never been done,” Noyes said. “Now I’m formalizing the offer to buy the DOT property.”

Noyes said his offer was valid through March 15, and that he was willing to put $5,000 down.

Noyes was one of 18 bidders on the DOT property when it went up for sale in the early summer of 2020. The city was the highest bidder at $235,000.

Noyes said the city was making a mistake by wanting to tear down the DOT buildings. He said that, under his proposal, the DOT buildings could be saved and turned into 10 senior housing units with a day care on the bottom floor. Noyes said his plan aligns with the city’s comprehensive plan, which listed more housing downtown and more daycare among its top priorities. Noyes said he was also prepared to purchase a 3-D printing machine to “print” homes, and that he could use it to build 50 homes per year.

Instead of building the fire station on West Briggs Avenue, Noyes suggested building it on the block between Grimes and Depot avenues.

Mayor Connie Boyer asked Noyes why the city would accept his offer of $200,000 when it has already paid $235,000 for the property. Fairfield City Attorney John Morrissey asked Noyes why, if the property was as valuable as he claimed, he did not bid more for it during the 2020 auction.

“I got discouraged when [the bidding] got to $225,000,” Noye said. “I knew who I was fighting against, and they had unlimited money. It wasn’t their money, it was other people’s money, including my money, being used to bid against the private sector.”

Fairfield resident Brad Fregger spoke after Noyes, and said he worried about the cost of the fire station exceeding expectations, which might then force the city to raise taxes. Fregger said he had met with Fire Chief Scott Vaughan and City Engineer Melanie Carlson, and though he was impressed with the work they had put in, was nevertheless worried about the tax burden on Fairfield’s citizens.

“Government projects often go well over initial estimates,” said Fregger, who remarked about a bullet train project in California that had significant cost overruns.

Fregger said Fairfield’s taxes are already too high. He remarked that his property taxes in Texas were $3,900, but when he and his wife moved to Fairfield, their taxes were initially $5,000, despite living on a “postage stamp” lot.

“As a city council, you should be trying to figure out how to do more with less,” Fregger said, “instead of seeing the end of current obligations as an excuse to spend more. You should see it as an opportunity to lower taxes or provide additional services for our people.”

Fairfield city staff have said they will not have to raise property taxes to fund the new fire station because old debt will be paid off just as the new debt from the fire station will be added.

Council member Tom Twohill said he thought it was important to note that the city has not raised taxes in recent years, and that looking back through the last 15 years, last year saw the lowest tax rate and this year saw the second lowest tax rate during that span. He said the reason residents are paying more in taxes is that their property values have increased.

Greg Hanshaw, chair of the Fire Station Task Force, addressed the council about its decision-making process. Hanshaw said he wanted to respond to a comment made during the last open house, suggesting that the task force was misled or “coerced” into choosing the West Briggs site instead of choosing to build a new fire station at its current location on North Second Street.

“As chairman of the task force, speaking on behalf of the group, that could not be further from the truth,” Hanshaw said about that suggestion. “Frankly, it’s disappointing something so wholly inaccurate was conveyed in a public forum.”

Hanshaw said each member of the task force attended multiple meetings and put a “significant” number of hours into researching the two options.

“We are fully confident this path forward is, without a doubt, what is best for the fire department, its members and the city of Fairfield,” Hanshaw said of the task force’s recommendation of the West Briggs site.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com