Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Contractor Hired By Rosston Council

Morton Building Company of Magnolia will be constructing a new fire station for the Rosston Volunteer Fire Department.

The structure will cost the city $46,972.28 to build, though, and will be a turnkey job with the exception of plumbing. This was decided at a special meeting of the Rosston City Council Thursday, Sept. 14.

According to the specs, the building will consist of a 36 by 42 by 14 foot building with a 2 on 12 roof pitch, along with a 36 by 24 by 10 foot building, also with a 2 on 12 pitch roof.

There will be three overhead doors, each 12 by 12 foot for the fire station portion, while the building's addition will have two 3070 walk doors.

Morton submitted the bid as two separate projects, though it will be constructed as one building.

The other bidder was MAC Construction of Hope. MAC's bid was $45,500 for a 40 by 60 foot building.

Don Morton, company president, said the bid doesn't include any electrical or plumbing work, though the plumbing will be roughed in.

He told the council overhead doors and roll up doors cost him the same, with the only difference being he can't service the overhead doors.

Morton said these doors could be serviced by Overhead Door of Camden, though.

Former Rosston Fire Chief Jim Cross said the bid didn't include a drain in the center of the building. Morton said this could be added with no problem if the city would provide the plastic.

Cross and the council agreed to this option.

Councilman Randy Goodeau motioned the board hire Morton to build the new fire station, though the MAC bid was hardly mentioned. The council unanimously agreed to go with Morton.

Morton said his company could start the concrete work for the slab when the dirt work was finished. While the slab is being poured and cured, he added, the company will fabricate the building.

Once work on the building begins, he told the council, it should be finished in 10 days. "It's not a big job," he said.

Cross said the building will be in the ground on one side, and the city will build a flume across it to help control water when it rains.

Rosston Mayor Lewis Jackson, Friday morning, said the city has the money, but he doesn't want to spend all of it just to get the project going.

"I'll get the old fire house appraised and see if we can sell it to the water department," he said.

Overall, Jackson said, the new fire station will cost the City of Rosston more than $50,000 to build because Morton's is only putting up a shell building. The city will have to get the plumbing and electrical work done by someone else, as it wasn't included in the bid.

The station, according to Jackson, will be set facing the Rosston Post Office. This way it can utilize the Post Office's parking lot, while providing more room in the front and back of the building. It will also give better visibility for the driver of the firetruck in seeing traffic coming over a nearby hill.