Costs for new Lewiston fire station escalate

The estimated price of a new fire station in the Lewiston Orchards has ballooned from $4 million to $6.9 million since being placed in the city’s budget last fall.

The increase is because of factors such as higher labor and material costs, said Lewiston Fire Chief Travis Myklebust at a Monday city council meeting.

The city is planning to replace a 4,600-square-foot fire station at the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport with a larger one on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Bryden Avenue.

The 10,000-square-foot building would be staffed by three firefighters 24 hours a day, the same number that now work from the airport location, and is expected to improve response times.

All of the equipment at that station — two ambulances, two structural fire engines and a service vehicle that carries equipment — would be moved to the location. The service vehicle, which is now stored outside, could be kept inside.

A battalion chief, who currently works from the city’s downtown station, would also be moved to the new station.

The city had planned to pay for the fire station out of its budgets for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years, that started Oct. 1 and end Sept. 30, 2023, Myklebust said.

Crews would break ground on the project in September or October and the station would be ready by the end of 2023, he said.

What happens next depends on the city council, which took no action Monday, and will address the matter at its first May meeting.

Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson, city Treasurer Aimee Gordon and Myklebust met and identified money that could be used for the station if projects were reprioritized, Myklebust said.

The other option would be to halt the construction, wait to see if prices drop — something that doesn’t appear likely anytime soon — and invest $200,000 in the existing location to cover deferred maintenance, he said.

A majority of the city council members, including councilors Jim Kleeburg, Kathy Schroeder, Kassee Forsmann and Rick Tousley, said they like the plan for the new fire station.

Council President Hannah Liedkie said she has questions and needs to do more reading. Councilor Luke Blount made no comment during the discussion.

The city did “rob” the fire chief’s budget several times to fund other projects that were more pressing, such as sidewalks around the new Lewiston High School, Community Park and traffic circles, Kleeburg said.

“The money had to come from somewhere, so we kept kicking (the can) down the road,” he said. “But I agree with the chief.”

One of Liedkie’s concerns involves traffic at Fifth Street and Bryden Avenue, where vehicles already back up at certain peak times.

A traffic study completed four years ago didn’t include impacts from the gas station that recently opened there, she said.

If the fire station goes there, the fire department will control the intersection and direct traffic the instant it is summoned to an emergency, Kleeburg said.

“I have a bigger concern with our crews driving through that intersection today,” Myklebust said.

The city is looking at a number of strategies to control costs. It, for example, replaced steel with masonry brick. It is also considering putting an ambulance crew now working from a station at 16th Street and Grelle Avenue at the new station. If that occurred, a remodel of the 16th and Grelle station might be postponed about five years, Myklebust said.

“This building has everything we said it would,” he said. “We’ve not cut one corner on anything related to the operations of this building. … This is a building that will serve us 50 years, plus.”

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.