After being set back by a cyber scam, Athens pulls together the final payment for its new fire station
By: Charlie Ihlenfeld
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The November cyber scam has forced the Athens City Council to make plans to re-allocate funding to finance the final payment for the new fire station.
The amount Athens owes for the station grew as projected expenses for the project exceeded the initial estimate.
The council took up an ordinance Monday that would draw funds from a variety of sources to make the roughly $932,000 final payment to Pepper. Council members vote to declare an emergency so the ordinance be passed more quickly. A vote is expected next Monday.
Safety Service Director Andy Stone explained why the final payment grew more than $200,000. The city added a parking lot, assisted in the construction of the fitness court and maintained the green space surrounding the fire station.
The excess costs raised some eyebrows on the council.
Councilmember Michael Wood raised concerns about the city going forward with the extra costs without consulting the council. “I’m curious, were those approved by council? Did those ever come up to us? That’s a lot of money to spend.”
Stone said the council had not “individually approved” the expenses, but added he felt they were a part of the larger project. He reiterated his belief they were within the larger vision of the project. Wood said the council’s lack of information or consent for the use of these funds was a “pretty big deal.”
Councilmember Micah McCarey built on Wood’s comment, affirming the council planned to take a larger role in large purchases made by the city. “In the future, if there is a big cost that is not built into the project, maybe there can be more dialogue on the council,” McCarey said.
Stone outlined where the money for the $932,000 payment would be taken from. Most of the money will come from funds the city already set aside for projects like this. The city plans to use approximately $350,000 from the 206 fund, $150,000 in interest revenue, $200,000 from insurance proceeds from the cyber scam, $500,000 from the capital fund, $25,000 from the administration budget and the final $27,000 from the Fire Department’s supply budget.
Fire Chief Rob Rymer said he would have to “determine what he could and could not get with that decrease. A set of fire gear is $5,000, so that’s maybe five sets of gear I can’t buy this year.”