Was it one feasibility study done for the proposed new fire
station for the City of Bradford, or two? What did the city’s
residents get for the more than $20,000 spent?

Earlier in the summer, the city’s fire department was seeking to
apply for a federal stimulus grant to build a new fire station.
Fire Chief Boo Coder and Councilman Ross Neidich, who oversees the
fire department, said funds were available for new stations and the
city wouldn’t have to pay anything for the grant.

The deadline for the grant application was July 10, and
proposals had to be shovel-ready if the grant was approved. At
first, Coder suggested the site of the former Third Ward School.
The neighbors in the area protested, and Coder found a second
location, the site of which he never made known to the public.

City council approved the bill for the feasibility study for the
proposed new fire station at the meeting July 28 – at a price tag
totaling $20,587.50. Public outrage ensued.

On Thursday, Neidich explained his view of the situation,
including why the study cost so much. Coder did not immediately
return calls seeking comment.

“We had started on the study for the old Third Ward School site
when we changed sites,” Neidich said, explaining there wasn’t
actually a second study. “We redid (the study) based upon the new
site. The new site was more extensive … it was a little more costly
because we were going with a platinum goal in mind” for the energy
rating.

Proposals for grants were rated on several factors, including
energy efficiency and whether the site was owned by the agency
applying for the funds. A feasibility study was necessary for the
submission of the grant, Coder said.

“The whole idea behind the grant was the more categories you can
show, the more points you get towards getting the grant,” Neidich
explained. “If we already owned the property, that was worth
points. The feasibility study was worth points. Energy savings was
worth points. The more categories you could show would be more in
our favor when it came time for them to take a look at grant
proposals.

“We took a gamble,” Neidich acknowledged. If that gamble pays
off, the city could have a new multi-million dollar, state of the
art, environmentally friendly fire station.

“The only way we could enter the grant competition was to have a
feasibility study done,” Neidich said. “The chief and I met with
each councilman. We told them the grant proposal would take a study
and we were not sure of the cost.”

Neidich said he and Coder asked council to use the money
budgeted for a new chief’s vehicle to pay for the study. Council,
absent Mayor Tom Riel, approved permission to apply for the
grant.

The main problems raised by the public are that so much money
was spent on preparations for a grant that the department may not
actually get; that $20,000 was spent in a time when the city is
struggling to make ends meet; and that Coder had said from the
beginning that the city “wouldn’t have to pay a nickel.”

Riel, who has been quite vocal in his opposition to the
feasibility study’s cost, said Thursday that the whole grant
application was rushed in a manner that made things “questionable
or careless.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass if the money was already budgeted, it
was still taxpayer’s money,” Riel said. “Just because it’s in the
budget doesn’t mean that the money is there or that we can afford
to spend it. We don’t even have enough money to get through this
year.

“The public was told it wouldn’t cost them a nickel. It cost
them over 400,000 nickels.

“City council was not given clarity on how, and how much, was
being spent,” Riel said, acknowledging he had known a study would
be done.

“Council members were made aware that a feasibility study would
need to be done to apply for the grant,” Riel said. “No ballpark
dollar amount was given. Here’s the chain of events. They went
ahead and started to do a feasibility study at the former Third
Ward School. After the neighbors’ outrage and unwillingness to
accept it, they found another proposed location and ordered another
feasibility study.

“At no point had city council committed to either site. Over
$20,000 was spent when neither location was secured, before the
grant was due. My question is, was the feasibility study even
necessary since they didn’t have a location in applying for a
grant?

“City council had never consented to designating the Third Ward
site for a location. The other site – city council was aware of it,
but never had sales agreements on the different parcels they would
have to obtain. Was it careless to go out and start doing a
feasibility study on a site you didn’t have permission to use?

“You betcha,” Riel said. “I think the whole thing was rushed and
there was a lot of misunderstanding of what was going on. Someone
dropped the ball in the rushing of this grant.”