Recent statements from NIACC President Debra Derr about the future of a fire training facility construction project contradict NIACC Board decisions.|The construction of a fire training center is not a sure thing, after all.
In a letter from NIACC President Debra Derr to Carol Patnode, Chairman of the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Commission, Derr says “no final decision has been made regarding where or whether the training center will be constructed.”
Derr also says “no final site has been selected for the project.”
This is interesting language from Derr, considering NIACC Board decisions made recently. For example, at a meeting in Osage earlier this Fall, the NIACC Board approved a site for the location of a regional training center and also approved a bid of $276,826 from Fire Facilities Neilsen of Racine, Wis. for construction the building.
These board decisions seemed to have indicated the project was moving forward.
However, NIACC seems to have changed its tune ever since neighbors adjacent to the approved project site organized and complained to NIACC about water run-off issues the project would likely exacerbate. At a November 10th meeting, Brad Johnson, a neighbor who lives near the proposed training center site, told NIACC officials “Don’t build it next to my house, period. We don’t want it there.”
The NIACC board of directors approved this site just off of Highway 122 for the location of the Regional Training Center. Site surveyors have already been out to the site.
