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Chelsea FY2016 budget includes land purchase for fire department

by

Erica Techo

The Chelsea City Council unanimously approved the capital and general budgets for fiscal year 2016 at its Oct. 6 meeting.

Within the $2,594,808 capital budget, Mayor Earl Niven included $50,000 toward a land purchase for a new fire department. The city will also fund the purchase of a new storage building and a new transport vehicle for Chelsea Fire & Rescue.

During pre-council, Niven discussed the possibility of tearing down the old fire station and the adjacent tire store to construct a building for training purposes. Council member Tony Picklesimer mentioned renovating the building for historical and nostalgic purposes. Fixing the building and making it fully operational would cost around $150,000, Niven said. Niven also said Chelsea Fire & Rescue Chief Wayne Shirley is looking into what space he would need for a training facility as well as what would be necessary to get the old fire station fixed up.

Other capital projects included road improvements and a land purchase near the current ballpark development off of Highway 47. The purchase includes 26 acres of land and costs $172,000. Several parks and recreation projects were also included in the capital budget.

Phase one of the new Chelsea Sports Complex, comprised of three baseball fields, was noted in the budget. The bid of $1.14 million for the fields, parking lot, batting cages and walking trail was accepted at the Sept. 16 meeting. A bid for the electricity and lighting at the fields, priced at $348,150, was accepted at the same meeting.

A few final costs for the Chelsea Community Center, set to open before December, was also included in the budget.

“Most of these projects have already started, and it’s just a matter of funding them to where we can draw a conclusion to them,” Niven said.

The general budget came to $7,642,750. Of that amount, $2.45 million goes toward the fire department and paying the five deputies who work within Chelsea. There are also $126,500 in donations included in the city’s expenses. Around $125,000 of that goes toward Chelsea’s five schools.

Niven said this year’s budget, his 20th for the city, was more complicated than past budgets. The complication came from having more to spend on a growing city and the projects which come with it.

“As a city grows, you have expenses to keep up with the projects that you have going,” Niven said. “And this is something that we’re very proud of our city and what we have so far, and this will keep us moving in that positive direction.”

Chelsea High School’s mixed show choir, Out of the Blue, also performed at the city council meeting. The 32-member group performed four songs from Peter Pan. The songs were a segment of its upcoming performance, said director and choral music teacher Kay Dick. Out of the Blue will perform on Oct. 15 alongside the high school’s men’s and women’s choirs.

Also at the meeting:

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