Chief explains cost for proposed Somers Fire Hall

Voters in the Somers Rural Fire District have just one week left to return their mail ballots for a bond issue of up to $4 million for a new fire hall.

Ballots must be mailed to the County Election Department by July 29 or can be dropped off in person at the Election Department by 8 p.m. July 30. At least 40 percent of the registered voters in the area, about 1,700 people, must cast their ballots for the election to be valid.

If approved, the 20-year bond would pay for designing, constructing, equipping and furnishing a new Somers Fire Hall on 5 acres owned by the fire district at 784 Somers Road.

Somers-Lakeside Fire Chief Tom Havens said $4 million is the maximum amount being asked for in the bond election, but “if the building came in at $3 million,” then the cost to taxpayers would be much less.

At the maximum amount, the bond will cost about $48 annually for a home valued at $200,000.

The fire district is anticipating unstable soil issues similar to what the Somers School District faced as it embarked on a $15.8 million bond to improve Somers Middle School, Havens said. In that case the school site was moved to a different location after a soil study indicated the wet, loose, sandy soil could leave the building vulnerable to damage in the event of an earthquake.

Running new sewer and water lines to hook into the Somers Sewer District is also part of the project expense, Havens noted.

Havens said the fire district has had two community meetings to inform voters about the proposed bond issue. One was held some time ago in Somers, and another was held in Lakeside last week. The district has a website, www.somerslakesidefire.com that addresses key concerns voters may have about the project, and has an email address that voters can use to get specific questions answered, Havens said, adding that one of the firefighters is responding to those emails and monitoring the website.

The new hall, if approved, will have three full-size, pull-through truck bays, each long enough to accommodate two trucks. This will give the department a minimum capacity of six trucks. In addition, the first floor will have a large community room and kitchen to provide a gathering place for a wide variety of events, according to the website. The second floor, while proposed to remain unfinished during this first construction phase, has planned space for a bunk room, class room, and other areas to accommodate the possibility of shift-working firefighters.

“We have several aging trucks which will need replacement in the not-too-distant future,” the website notes. “To best serve our community we want to replace these trucks with modern, larger trucks, that unfortunately cannot fit in the current fire hall.”

The Somers-Lakeside Fire Department serves the Somers, Lakeside and Lower Valley areas. The current fire hall on Lesley Avenue in Somers is about 60 years old and has been expanded through the years, but is out of room for any future expansion.

News Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.