Clearwater is considering adding a maintenance building for additional vehicle and equipment storage.

 

A few months ago, the city council discussed expanding or replacing the current maintenance building or using space on the Sewer Authority property.

 

Monday, Administrator Kevin Kress presented members of the council with two different options for a building.

 

He said the city could potentially use some space in a building at the Sewer Treatment plant at a cost of about $60,000. A preliminary cost for a 45’x60’ building without a concrete floor near the existing public works building on Co. Rd. 75 would be about $55,000.

 

Councilman Richard Petty said he preferred having all the maintenance equipment within city borders.

 

“It would be inconvenient to have equipment over there (Sewer Plant). Only if it’s something that would sit for awhile and not be utilized,” he said. “If we’re going to do anything over here, why don’t we size it appropriately and not try it over there.”

 

Mayor Andrea Lawrence asked whether the additional building would solve the problems the maintenance crew had with moving equipment around because of a lack of space.

 

“Is this just a bandaid onto a problem, as opposed to knocking the whole facility down and doing something (else)?” she asked.

 

Kress said space is very limited, but a complete new building would probably cost more than the city wanted to invest at this point.

 

“Over there, you take four pieces of equipment out to get to what you actually need because it is so restricted inside,” he said. “Ideally, it would make a lot of sense to build a new facility. But you’re talking several million to do so.”

 

“A $50,000 bandaid is a lot more palatable than a $2 million building,” said Lawrence.

 

Councilman Wayne Kruchten said he spoke with Public Works Supervisor John Schmidt and other members of the crew, who said all they needed was a storage building with electricity.

 

“They all felt what they had was very sufficient. They just needed room,” he said. “Everything was in good shape. If they just added the storage on they would be okay.”

 

Kress said they could also take a closer look at the site and evaluate how big a building would fit on the space so it could accommodate as much equipment as possible.

 

By consensus, council members ruled out building storage space at the Sewer Treatment Facility. They directed Kress to get three bids on constructing a storage building at the public works site.

 

There is no time frame for the project, although it could be done as early as this fall, said Kress. The city currently has funds available.

 

“The money is there because it’s capital-funded,” he said. “The city puts away $100,000 each year for public works capital to use for trucks, equipment and upgrades to facilities.”