STUART — Despite a commissioner’s concerns about overspending during the economic downturn, the Martin County Commission approved the final site plan Tuesday for a new $2.7 million maintenance facility for the county’s ambulances and fire trucks.

Construction could start as soon as next week on the new 15,840-square-foot repair shop for the county’s Fire Rescue Division on Ruhnke Street, said Randall Saumier, the county’s construction chief. The building will also hold supplies for the trucks and ambulances.

“We need this facility and we need it desperately,” said Commission Chairwoman Susan Valliere.

The workers at the fire rescue vehicle maintenance facility on Dixie Highway labor under “horrible” conditions with very little protection from the weather, Valliere and other county officials said.

The commissioners voted 4-1 to go forward with the project despite protests by Commissioner Sarah Heard that borrowing more than $2 million for the project was “fiscally irresponsible.”

“We can no longer afford to build this facility,” Heard said. “It’s not money we have on hand. It’s money we’re borrowing. There is no way that I could support building this facility right now for this amount of money. I think we need to scrap this idea and come up with one the county can afford.”

Don Pickard, president of the Martin County Taxpayers’ Association, questioned why the Fire Rescue Division, the General Services Department, the Sheriff’s Office and the School District all need their own vehicle maintenance facility.

But Valliere and Commissioner Doug Smith said the long-awaited project has gone too far and is too important to stop now.

“I know that they’re looking at projects that should be scrapped; this is not one of them,” Valliere said. “It should have been built a long time ago.”

In other business, the Martin County Commission took the following action:

• Approved the final site plan for the Pentalago subdivision, 42 ranchettes on 212 acres east of Citrus Boulevard and north of Interstate 95.

• Renewed a three-year agreement with First Southwest Company to provide financial planning and debt management advice to the county for $20,000 per year plus hourly charges. The last three-year deal cost Martin County a total of $133,853.

• Agreed to chip in $264,388 for the county’s share of the $11 million installation of an Engineered Materials Arresting System, crash pad, on both ends of Runway 12/30 at Witham Field, the county-owned airport.

• Agreed to chip in $15,892 for the county’s share of the $665,000 needed to update the Airport Master Plan, including a Business Development Plan, for Witham Field.

• Approved a contract to pay $122,000 to Robert L. Schraut, Sr., Trustee for 22 N.E. 18th Street, which is needed for the southern section of the Green River Parkway.

• Approved the closing of sections of Park Drive, DeSoto Avenue, and Seaward Street from Friday until Sunday to accommodate the crowds expected to attend the Port Salerno Seafood Festival.

• Delayed action on several revisions to the county’s investment policy.

• Agreed to provide information technology service to the Town of Jupiter Island with a first year cost of $18,442 and a cost of $ 20,000 per year after that.

By George Andreassi, TCPalm.com

Tags: arrest, chief, contract, crash, development, driving, festival, fire, hand, imported, protest, repair, sheriff, vote, Weather

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