Sheldon, Iowa — Sheldon emergency and city personnel are considering building a new fire station where the east ball diamond is now at Sheldon City Park.
Representatives of all of the emergency services say they need more space. The current idea is for SCAT to take over the current fire station and Fire and EMA to move into new facilities, but planning and budgeting continue.
The Sheldon City Council heard a presentation from Chuck Ball from the Sheldon Fire Company and Krysten Haan from the Sheldon Community Ambulance Team (SCAT) when they met this week. Ball told the council the main need is space, due to all the extra equipment they now need and the growth of the department. Ball says they’ve looked at several options.
He says they also thought about building a new SCAT facility.
Ball says it’s a good problem to have, as many communities don’t have growing emergency departments. He says they’ve considered several locations for a new fire station. He says they all have pros and cons. Next, he says, they talked about size — how much property would they need?
One of the concerns of the council was where the funding would come from. Plus, some were concerned that the citizens would be paying for a wish list more than a needs list from the departments. After discussion, the council decided to release $50,000 that had been put aside. That money will be used to find out how much this would all cost.
There were some more topics discussed at this week’s Sheldon City Council meeting as well.
