HAMMOND | The civil city and the school city have completed a property swap involving a potential new fire station in Hessville.
But Fire Chief David Hamm said the fire station is on hold for now because of property tax uncertainties. However, he confirmed the city hoped to locate the new station at Cleveland and Parrish avenues.
Plans have the new station replacing the station currently located at 165th Street and Kansas Avenue, which eventually will be demolished by the school city, the property's new owner.
In the property swap, School Superintendent Walter Watkins said the school city exchanged its overflow parking area on Parrish Avenue across from Harding Elementary School for two pieces of property owned by the civil city.
"What we got was the property that the current fire station sits on ... and a triangular piece of property by Hammond High School that the baseball field occupies," Watkins said. "The civil city (owned) that baseball field, and we wanted it for some other projects."
Watkins said the deal benefits the school city in giving it ownership of contiguous property at each site.
Hamm said the Hessville fire station targeted for replacement dates to the 1960s and is in the worst shape of the city's eight fire stations.
"We were pumping so much money into Station No. 8 and doing the same thing to No. 2 and No. 7," he said.
While Hamm said he had not spent a dime on the project as of yet, a $180,500 contract for architectural services by Indianapolis-based United Consulting Engineers & Architects was entered into on Nov. 5 of last year. Monthly invoices submitted to the city between January and May of this year total $131,794.
Hamm later said he was unaware of the expenditures.
"It's news to me," he said. "I only expressed the view we needed a new station. We're operating on a budget of less than five years ago."
It was unclear Thursday whether United's bills were being paid by tax or gaming dollars.
Meanwhile Sixth District Councilman Homero "Chico" Hinojosa said he had been approached by the city to contribute gaming dollars to the new station but declined.
"I welcome the new station, but I have enough commitments already," Hinojosa said. He cited his $634,000 in annual bond payments toward the purchase of the former River Park Apartments and at least $250,000 to the Hammond Sanitary District's flood prevention plan. Whatever remains will go to street projects, he said.
