City receives offer to buy former Goetsch Oil lot
April 25th, 2007A proposal to build a new ambulance and/or police garage gained strength last week. Council members learned that the City has officially been offered a lot for the construction a new ambulance and/or police building.
According to Gaylord’s Public Works Coordinator Avery Grochow, the City has been offered the west 85 feet of the former Goetsch Oil property for $15,000. The property, which is 100-feet wide, is located at the corner of Sixth Street and Lincoln Avenue.
Property owners will honor the agreement for two years, according to Grochow. The agreement is only for the construction of a new ambulance and/or police building and not for any other unrelated use, he explained.
More than a year ago, members of the Gaylord Ambulance Service proposed that the City construct a new ambulance garage. The Ambulance Service currently shares space with the Gaylord Police Department in the garage located on the northwest corner of City Hall.
A primary concern for members of the ambulance service is that the environment of the current facility does not meet safety standards. Other long-standing concerns about the facility include no office space, no training room, no storage space, and no cleanup area following emergency runs.
Council members, last year, made a commitment that the City construct a new ambulance garage by 2008.
Ambulance service member Mark Brandt, in March, asked the City to consider constructing a new facility on the Goetsch Oil property this year. At that time, council member Carl Wetzel said he didn’t believe the City Council was ready to commit to a new facility in 2008. According to City Administrator Lonny Johnson, funds were not included in the 2007 budget for a new ambulance and/or police facility.
