| At their regular city council meeting on Tuesday, January 27th the Epworth City Council officially accepted the building project from Epic Construction of Dubuque. Fire Department members met with Epic Project Manager Pat Udelhofen and Brian Stark from Gardner Architecture of Strawberry Point and developed a small punch list that needs to be completed and recommended acceptance of the project to the council. The department would like to thank Mayor Phil Silker and the Epworth City Council for working with the fire department to get over some of the hurdles encountered during the project. The fire department will now be busy moving office items and installing station equipment from the old station. Our plan is to watch the weather and hopefully move in on the last weekend in February or the first week in March. City Hall is set to go live in the new building on Monday, March 2nd. We have been conducting training classes there as well as held our annual President's Party on Saturday, January 31st. The department members are extremely proud and excited about the station. We have donated countless hours to the project. Initially the volunteers committed $200,000 to the project. To date that contribution exceeds $300,000 largely due to the generosity of local construction companies, suppliers, businesses and individuals who either donated funds, provided discounts, provided in kind work and/or donated their time and talents to complete the project. So many fire department members went above the call of duty to work after their normal jobs to use their talents and expertise to finish the station. At our membership meeting last evening, the department set the dates for two open house opportunities to the public. We will have an open house on Sunday, April 26th from 9 a.m. until Noon and also on Monday Evening from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. We hope that you will be able to join us and receive a tour of the beautiful building. I would like to thank the citizens of Epworth for your support in the bond issue and for allowing us the funds to complete the project. We could not have done it without your support. We would also like to thank all of the people, businesses and organizations who contributed to our capital campaign fund drive. This helped us purchase the supplies needed for us to complete our portion of the project. This has truly been a community project and we appreciate everything you have done! |