By DAVE SCHULTZ
Members of the Bluffton Common Council kicked around dueling recommendations concerning the future of the Bluffton Fire Department Tuesday night.
A Public Safety Task Force composed of ine area residents and led by council member Roger Thornton completed nine months of work and recommended the fire department be moved from its current site next to City Hall into two stations — one north of the city and the other one south.
Then a recent study by an outside consultant firm, Tennessee-based McGrath Consulting Group Inc., said the city needed one new fire station which should be built to the west of the city’s downtown. However, the McGrath report did not recommend any particular site and there is no open land that would meet the requirements for a fire station in the area recommended by that study.
While no vote was taken, Thornton remains solidly behind the task force’s recommendation. However, the other council members — Scott Mentzer, Josh Hunt, Rick Elwell, and Janella Stronczek — said they were opposed to it to one extent or another. Hunt proposed buying and demolishing the remaining house on the block next to the Police-Fire Building and expanding the current facility.
Hunt admitted that “it’s not popular to remodel” existing space, and Elwell said he wondered if the city “is thinking outside the box enough.”
“I don’t support two stations,” said Elwell, who proposed hiring the McGrath firm for its study. “I want to look again at some of the options.”
Most of the council members said the fire territory, which unites Harrison and Lancaster townships to provide support to the Bluffton Fire Department, needs to be disbanded and Bluffton needs to be a part of whatever replaces it.
“We need to take a realistic look as to what the townships actually contribute,” Thornton said.
Also Tuesday, council heard from Brad Hartman, who reiterated his belief that the city has been lax on enforcing building standards. An out-of-state appraiser said that Hartman’s property at 1011 W. Market St. appraises 15 percent under market value because of the poor condition of other residences in his neighborhood.
Hartman named some property management firms by name, which irritated Thornton. “Do you understand the meaning of the terms libel and slander?” Thornton asked Hartment.
The city has recently hired a new building commissioner, and until that office acts on formal complaints, no action will be taken on the buildings Hartman cited.
“This body can’t impact this,” Elwell said.
In other business:
• The city passed, on first reading, the Wells County Flood Damage ordinance which must be written into city code. The matter was presented by Mike Lautzenheiser, who was there as the county’s flood plain manager. There will be more discussion on the ordinance at the council’s July 5 meeting.
• Chad Kline, Wells County’s economic development director, presented a Wells County economic development master plan. “Theidea is to give you a guide for the next five, 10, 15, and 20 years for planning,” Kline said. The issue was tabled for two weeks to get input from Clerk-Treasurer Tami Runyon, who was not present Tuesday night.
• The council approved, on a 5-0 vote, a tax abatement on $6.8 million in investment for WEG, the former Bluffton Motor Works, for automation. The abatement was for four years at 100 percent and 50 percent on a fifth year, Kline said. Compliance forms were also approved by several other companies.
daves@news-banner.com