Highland to issue bonds to pay for new public safety building, fire station renovations

The city of Highland will be issuing bonds to pay for the new public safety building and fire station renovations, moving forward after the council had rejected all bids and postponed the project.

The city council approved $8.8 million in bonds at its regular meeting Tuesday, Jan. 21, intended to cover the renovation of Fire Station No. 1 and the new public safety building to be constructed on 10 acres of land near St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Approximately $1.5 million will cover the renovations to the fire station, which had a minor setback when the city lost its temporary housing for the emergency medical services crews. The plan was to move the paramedics to a vacant glass shop after renovating it for on-site housing and storing equipment and the ambulances indoors.

Unfortunately, the glass shop has now been sold, so Fire Chief Brian Wilson is seeking new accommodations. The renovations to the fire station are so extensive they cannot occupy the building during construction, he said.

The volunteer firefighters will operate out of Station No. 2, and once the renovations are complete, operations will resume as usual, Wilson said.

“The renovation is going to serve us very well,” he said.

Meanwhile, $6.6 million of the bond issue will go to the long-delayed public safety building, which will combine paramedics and the police department in one building. The remaining $500,000 in the bond sale will go to furniture, fixtures and other necessities, according to city manager Mark Latham.

Put out to bid last spring, the city rejected all bids and sent the project back to the drawing board after the lowest bid came in at $8.5 million. Latham said he believes they have downsized the project so it will come in on budget.

Wilson said while the new public safety building will only hold two ambulances, the design of the new building and its location mean they can expand it in the future if they need more space for fire and EMS.

Latham said the new building will go out to bid in June, with eight months’ anticipated construction time.

This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 11:15 PM.