By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
A portion of the basement in Whitewater’s municipal building has been repurposed to accommodate volunteers of the city’s fire and rescue department as part of a spending plan adopted recently by officials.
The Common Council on Dec. 15 voted to accept a $23,466 bid submitted by Whitewater-based RR Walton and Company for the construction of new sleeping quarters for the department’s emergency medical services (EMS) personnel.
Matt Amundson, parks and recreation director, has been overseeing the planning process. Amundson said two companies provided the city with bids. The other, Country Builders Inc., also based in Whitewater, submitted a quote of $37,939.
The sleeping quarters will replace an existing fitness area in the municipal building’s basement. The fitness center, in turn, is relocating to an area that had been designated for storage.
The latest set of tweaks has been viewed as a tangible effect of the strengthened relationship between the long-independent fire and rescue department and the City of Whitewater. As the city and surrounding communities has grown, there has been an effort to bring some of the department’s decision-making efforts in-house.
City Manager Cameron Clapper said accommodations for sleeping quarters has been a high-priority item for years, in part because a large number of the department’s volunteers live outside the city.
“To be on call, they often sleep in chairs,” Clapper said of the current scenario.
The changes are not only expected to positively impact department personnel, but all city workers. The new fitness center will be made available to all municipal employees.
