Savage's dilemma: Fire stations cost, but so can slow response

The city of Savage is facing a decision on whether to build one or more costly new fire stations amid warnings that it suffers from "significant areas of service deficiency."

And a former fire chief is dissenting from the consensus achieved by the group that examined whether new stations are needed. When lives and property are at stake, said Al McColl, now a member of the City Council, "I have problems with merely being 'adequate.'"

A report presented late Monday at an informal workshop with the council warns that crews are "often" taking longer than the optimal seven minutes to reach emergencies west of Hwy. 13 and in the planned growth zone south of 150th Street.

But new stations could cost $1.25 million each at a time when a slowdown in growth and housing values is placing pressure on cities' finances.

A significant subplot has to do with whether to ask the city's taxpayers for permission to proceed.

"We could run a referendum," Fire Chief Joel McColl told council members. "Personally I don't recommend one because you stand a chance of being turned down. If it's truly needed, what do you do if voters say no? That's a lose-lose situation. I'm not in favor of referendums."

In neighboring Prior Lake, voters in a 2006 referendum approved a new fire station by a two to one ratio. The $2.7 million project is nearly finished and will be open in a matter of weeks.

"Public acceptance of an increase in property taxes is not very favorable," Savage city administrator Barry Stock said. "Everyone loves the fire department, but right now it would be difficult to pass a referendum."

Savage now has two fire stations, one in the older downtown area and the other in a newer part of town. The question is whether response times are getting slow enough, due to all the growth in the area, to warrant adding any new ones. Then the question becomes: If so, how many?

A study group is recommending what it's calling "strategy 3": closing the downtown station, moving it to the municipal campus at McColl Drive and Dakota Avenue, and opening a new satellite station around 154th Street and Dakota. The current second station would stay open.

Retired chief McColl favors "strategy 4," which involves doing those things but leaving a station in the downtown area, not necessarily exactly where it is now.

"We've taken everything away from downtown," he said. "The library, the post office, City Hall, now we're trying to do something again. We possibly have a large development coming downtown, and people there feel secure with that building there."