Steeleville to renovate former firehouse
<span>After previously serving as the city's firehouse for 40 years, the building on Sparta Street will do so again, according to plans announced during the Nov. 2 meeting of the Steeleville village board.</span>
<span>An architect's rendering, prepared by Quadrant Design, shows four vehicle bays attached to a section of the old building, which was also Steeleville's town hall from 1941 to 1982 when offices were moved into the current building.</span>
<span>"We have really good volunteer firemen and our police officers are trained as first responders, which is a real asset for our community," said Steeleville Mayor Bob Sutton.</span>
<span>Quadrant Design is handling the bidding and engineering services for the project at a cost of $98,380.</span>
<span>"We don't have a lot of details yet and we don't even have a good cost estimate yet," said Carlos Barbour, Steeleville's fire chief and a village trustee. "The building that we're adding on to is the original city hall.</span>
<span>"Before we moved into the present firehouse, it was the city firehouse."</span>
<span>Barbour, who said plans have been in progress for "several months," was also unable to give a timeline for the project. It will be paid for through Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds.</span>
<span>"There's no tax increase for the citizens or anything of that nature," Barbour said.</span>
<span>Barbour said his department has 27 firefighters and six vehicles - two pumpers, a tanker, a rescue truck, brush truck and command vehicle - in a space that was built for four.</span>
<span>"We got 300 calls last year, including EMS calls," Barbour said. "We're on that pace again this year."</span>
<span>Barbour said his firefighters are enthusiastic about the plans.</span>
<span>"They're excited about it," he said. "You always want to see growth and new is always great."</span>
<span>Barbour said the added space could have other benefits as well.</span>
<span>"We'll have more room for expansion for training purposes," he said. "We might be able to increase our fleet, depending on how things work out."</span>
<span>Sutton said the building once housed a restaurant and the superintendent's office of Steeleville School District 138. It was purchased by the city last year.</span>
<span>"We have not established everything we're going to do," he said. "It was a restaurant years ago and we looked to get a restaurant back in there, but the problem was there wasn't enough seating in there where the business could make money."</span>
<span>Sutton said the Steeleville Police Department will expand into the current firehouse once the new facility is complete.</span>
<span>"We would hope to get some work started on the old building in late winter/early spring," Sutton said. "Bids are going out to contractors. That's the key, we don't have that much control over it.</span>
<span>"There's some serious renovations that need to be done."</span>