Edgewood city council voted Monday night to not only go ahead with a new storage building, but they also added another $10,000 to extend the original building.
Jeff Schreiver, acting mayor. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer)
The vote was 4 to 1 with one abstain. Councilmember Dr. Scott Spille, the single no vote, asked to read an email that he received from Councilmember Darla Kettenacker who had to be out of town for the meeting, and is very opposed to the building of the storage facility so the city can house the antique firetruck. He did read the email, despite some opposition from council.
Councilmember Jeff Schreiver abstained from the vote. In Mayor John Link’s absence, Schreiver sat in for the mayor, but he was still a councilmember, so he had voting rights.
Councilmember Ben Barlage said he made the motion last October when they passed the original resolution to allocate $20,000 for the storage building, so he felt he should make the motion for the extra $10,000 to add a little more square footage to the design. Now the building is about 30 X 50 feet and is estimated to cost $29,270.
Before the motion, a resident, Kurt Hanscom asked about other storage buildings and places in the city that might have enough space for the Christmas decorations and other things that they were planning on storing in the new building along with the firetruck.
“My question is do we really need to build this for storage?” he asked. “You all are saying this is what we need and this is how we are going to use it, but it seems that there are more questions than answers.”
Dehner said the other storage facilities are full, and making this building a little bigger will allow them to take decorations and items they have in a facility that they are currently renting and put it in a building of their own, saving them the rent money. Plus, their Christmas decorations are unique and need to all be stored in one place so that they can also be preserved and used every year.
Resident Kurt Hanscome asked about other storage options. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer)
Another resident, Brad Hanna, asked about how the firetruck benefits the citizens of Edgewood. Councilmember Joe Messmer and CAO Brian Dehner both told him about how it is used in parades, and in the Touch a Truck event, and concerts in the park, and car shows.
“It is the original firetruck of the fire department,” said Messmer. “It is history. If we get rid of the truck, it is gone forever.”
Even if all the councilmembers had been present to vote, Kettenacker’s no vote would have made the final vote 4 to 2 with one abstain.
The building will be erected near the General Services building on South Loop Drive.
Other residents were present to talk about the possibilities of having a golf cart ordinance in the city.
Currently the city operates under the state ordinance that says golf carts are not allowed on the street unless they are licensed and registered.
After a lengthy discussion pro and con, council instructed CAO Dehner to have Attorney Frank Wichmann draw up a practice ordinance to further clarify the councilmembers’ opinions on whether to have a ordinance setting rules for the use of golf carts in the city.
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