NEW PHILADELPHIA History was made Thursday as officials broke ground for New Philadelphia's new fire station, which will replace a structure that has been in use for more than a century.
"We haven't done this for 110 years," Mayor Joel Day said at the beginning of the ceremony at 134 Front Ave. SE, the site of the new building.
More than 75 people attended the event, including elected officials, past and current firefighters and city residents.
All who spoke offered their thanks to everyone who helped in planning for the fire station and in getting a $5 million bond issue passed in November to finance construction.
Day thanked former Mayor Dave Johnson and former Service Director Jim Zucal, present and past members of city council, members of the Safer New Philadelphia Committee and Fire Chief Jim Parrish and firefighters.
Speaking of the firefighters, he said, "Our city government knew for years that the condition of the existing fire station was deteriorating. Despite that, they (firefighters) continued to be exemplary in performing their service to the citizens of New Philadelphia. Had they not maintained their devotion to our community, support for the bond issue could have been a much tougher sell."
He also offered his thanks to the voters, "who acknowledged the necessity of a new fire station by their overwhelming approval of the construction bond issue last November. It's now the city government's responsibility to see that their expectations are met or exceeded as actual construction of the new station gets underway."
The new facility will be a two-story, 20,000-square-foot steel structure.
Parrish pledged that firefighters would be careful in managing taxpayer dollars.
"We're committed to finishing this construction project within our budget and will continue to apply for as many grants for equipment and facilities as possible to be fiscally responsible for our city," he said. "To date, we have received $450,000 in grants since 2008 for equipment and such.
"I truly believe there is nothing we cannot accomplish as a community when we work together with our citizens and our businesses. I continue to be amazed at how much talent and how many resources we have in New Philadelphia."
Councilman John Zucal, whose council salary committee helped with development of the project, also spoke about how the groundbreaking was a historic moment.
"This has been a labor of love for myself and for Chief Parrish and all of those who have been involved in trying to make this a reality," he said. "In New Philadelphia, we only do this every hundred years or so, so I'm certainly glad to be a part of it."
Johnson also had praise for the new fire station.
"I think it's a wonderful project," he said following the ceremony. "When I was mayor, we worked very, very hard on this. We went and visited a lot of different fire stations. The chief had a plan, and we went with it."
McCall Sharp Architecture of Springfield will serves as architect for the new fire station, and Diversified Engineering Inc. of New Philadelphia will serve as project manager, overseeing the day-to-day work on the project.