Anew facility which may help change the face of Main Street in Newcastle will have a ground breaking at 4 p.m. Monday, February 6 at 555 S. Main Street. The new Newcastle Fire Station #1, which has been in the planning stages for some time, is getting underway.
The new facility has not only been needed for a long time, but also will help to further define the downtown area with its unique architecture.
City Manager Kevin Self said city officials, firefighters, city employees, and officials from both Lingo Construction and Guernsey will be in attendance. Invitations are also being extended to State Senator Jessica Garvin (R-Marlow) and Representative Sherri Conley (R-Newcastle), although their schedules at the State Capitol will likely dictate whether they are able to attend.
The City Council approved an estimate on construction of the new facility during its January meeting. Stan Lingo, of Lingo Construction Inc., presented information to the council which had been bid out by the company to subcontractors.
Lingo said the base bid went from $9.35 million down to $9.118 million. He said because of this, Lingo was able to add some alternate bids to the project which included traffic devices for the highway among other items, and the bid came in at a guaranteed maximum cost of $9,759,043.
Lingo also noted that the contracting and bid process has been a positive journey — “a good process.” Both City officials and officials from Lingo had been concerned because of the past few years of COVID-19 and problems with the supply chain.
Time for completion of the new fire station is 12 months, and Lingo is ready to start the first week or two of February, or at the pleasure of the council.
A special meeting was called Monday night for several agenda items, but among those was one for financing of the new fire station. The city had solicited financing bids, and the sole bidder was The First National Bank & Trust of Newcastle. Their bid, through Senior Vice President Sherri Garrard, was approved for up to $9,800,000 with no closing costs at a rate of 4.25% fixed term during construction, and a rate of 4.95% fixed for the term of the 30-year loan. They noted that there is no penalty for paying off the loan early.
City Manager Kevin Self said the permanent financing will likley not be the total $9.8 million, because the City has been setting aside money for this project since 2016. They already have approximately $2.2 million set back. Self said the amount set back monthly started out smaller than now, however, the City has been able to put back up to $60,000 per month in more recent years.
