STATE CENTER — A public meeting to present information about the proposed new fire station for State Center, and the financing of that project, was held at city hall last Thursday night. It was the second such event after an inaugural meeting was hosted on Oct. 5.

Fire Chief Brad Pfantz opened the meeting with some brief remarks about the history of fire protection in State Center. State Center Fire Engine Co. No. 1 was organized on Jan. 25, 1875. The fire service has occupied several locations in the following years, and the current fire station on the north side of Main Street was built in 1978.

Although State Center’s population has remained relatively stable, the nature of fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) calls and service has grown considerably since the 1978 station was built.

Fire and EMS services in State Center now cover Hazmat (chemical spills), grain bin rescues, extrication services for car accidents, and carbon monoxide calls. Chief Pfantz said that 911 calls, if they aren’t police related, are serviced by Fire and EMS.

“We actually serve 125 square miles for EMS in Marshall County. We respond as Automatic Aid to the Clemons Fire Dept. Our two fire territories comprise 154 square miles, and we cooperate and support major calls from other surrounding communities,” he said.

He added that the coverage area is just over 25 percent of Marshall County.

“We get on average 240 calls every year, and that is answered by over 6,100 hours of volunteer service,” he said.

He stressed that in State Center Fire and EMS service is all volunteer — no one is paid, and there are no benefits.

Looking at the situation in the current station, Chief Pfantz said that fire trucks are parked bumper-to-bumper, there is not enough room at the gear lockers for all personnel to “suit up” at the same time, and that the general purpose meeting room is too small to accommodate meetings when new procedures and techniques with fire and EMS calls are presented.

He added that if the service were to add new fire engines, those trucks would be “too long to fit in the current station.” Chief Pfantz also noted that the present fire and EMS services now use six different locations within the community to house all of their gear and records.

The proposed new station would have an expected life span of over 50 years, and ground has been donated by Harlan and Jeanette Kloppenborg just east of town on old Highway 30 as a location.

A $1.5 million bond issue is proposed to build the new station, and those dollars would be collected by an addition to property taxes. Heidi Kuhl of Northland Securities explained that the debt levy tax would be paid by property owners based on the taxable valuation of the property. Using current taxable valuations, an estimated $2.76 tax per $1,000 of taxable valuation would be necessary to make the annual payments over 19 years.

Jamie Malloy from Studio Melee, the design architects for the project, explained the layout of the proposed building, and Matt Schroeder of Greiner Construction added that they have been working with Melee to coordinate design features and construction capabilities.

Chief Pfantz then opened the meeting to questions. Terry Collier said that since the population of State Center has not grown significantly, then the new station might be better proposed at a time in the future. Chief Pfantz responded that the issue is not population based, but the new station is being proposed because of the inability of the current station to meet modern demands.

There were clarification questions about the tax and rollback, which Heidi answered. The meeting concluded with a comment from Stephen Adams, who offered praise and appreciation for the EMS services in State Center.