Oconto Falls allocated $7 million for fire station

Design firm hired for feasibility study
By: 
Warren Bluhm
Editor-in-chief

The state Department of Administration has announced plans to award the City of Oconto Falls a $7 million grant to build a new fire station.

The grant would come from the DOA’s Neighborhood Investment Fund, one of several programs created to distribute federal American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to the State of Wisconsin.

During the June 8 meeting of the Oconto Falls City Council, Fire Chief Tim Magnin thanked firefighter Joel Lavarta, former City Administrator Vicki Roberts and state Rep. Jeff Mursau, R-Crivitz, for their help in applying for and obtaining the grant for the city.

After months of preliminary work on a potential new fire station, the DOA sent the city a Notice of Award on May 31, which sets a process in motion that is expected to result in a contractual agreement between the state and city.

One of the requirements of the grant is to have a feasibility study that also determines the best size and location for the fire station, Magnin said. The existing fire station is located on the corner of Jackson Street and Cherry Avenue.

The council approved an agreement with Five Bugles Design to provide that study and a conceptual design. Magnin said part of the firm’s $16,450 fee could be returned to the city if the council eventually agrees to contract with Five Bugles Design for engineering services on the project.

The site study will look at every firefighter’s address to study how long it takes to get from his or her home to the fire station, as well as the time it takes to travel from the station to major infrastructure in the community — such as the hospital, schools and the municipal building.

“We don’t want to hurt our current response time because we worked so hard to get to our ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating, and we don’t want to affect that,” Magnin said.

The 10-week study will review the department’s need for space for the next 20 years, based on the amount of equipment and number of firefighters, and the company will seek input from the council as well, he said.

Magnin said Robert Kryzanowski, director of emergency services for Five Bugles, plans to lead city officials on a tour of the recently completed Village of Suamico fire station.

“He’ll actually go through that and have a tour of that station, explaining some of the reasons why they built things the way they build it so that it just helps us and council and everybody understand what it takes to build a new station for the current department,” Magnin said.

According to the DOA, the Neighborhood Investment Fund was created to make “significant investments with long-term benefits to help neighborhoods recover from negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular emphasis on addressing the needs of residents in communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.”

Projects approved under the program need to be completed by Dec. 31, 2024.