“This has been a long time coming,” said Ogden Highway Superintendent Dave Widger about the town’s new 55,000 square feet Ogden Highway Department Building. Ground was broken June 13 and it is anticipated that the complex will be finished by the end of December. LeChase Construction is the project manager and several subcontractors work for them. Town crews will do their own asphalt work come spring, as well as any landscaping work that needs to be done. Widger said he researched what type of building would best suit the town’s needs. He spoke with representatives from other towns including Tonawanda and Henrietta, and toured their new facilities. “I asked them what they would have done different if they were building it today,” he said. This enabled him to think of things he might not have and change a few things before construction began. The current highway garage facility was found to be inadequate for the town’s staff and for the fleet of vehicles that keep the Town of Ogden up and running. The large plows, salt trucks and excavators have been stored outdoors, which has added to the costs of maintenance, both repair and replacement, according to Widger. The new facility will be able to house the entire fleet which will significantly lower their maintenance costs but also raise their response time during snow and ice, town officials say. The garage will have six repair bays compared to the two currently in use. Repairs are now done outside in all types of weather, due to lack of space indoors. Vehicle storage and maintenance were valuable goals of the project, but so was having room for all the employees in one place. Jim Horeck, Director of Grounds, has never had an office in the old building, he will in the new one. And Jeff Tewksbury, the GIS Safety Coordinator and his new GIS system, that was unveiled to the public November 19, will also have office space. The building is also being wired and designed in such a way that when the county puts in a computerized system linking all the towns together, they’ll be able to hook in. Emergencies were one thing they had in mind when they designed the Emergency Preparedness Room. The new highway building has a backup generator that is big enough to completely power the entire facility and equipment during an emergency. Located off of the Radio Dispatch office, this conference room would become “headquarters” in the event of a weather or national emergency. It is equipped with several phone lines, the weather station, computers, and anything that would be needed by the department heads to keep the town running. Ogden’s chief of police, the fire chief, town supervisor, and any other critical town leaders would gather here to plot their course of action in handling an emergency situation. State codes, and the American Disabilities Act demanded that changes had to be made to the original plans for the highway facility, according to town officials. Hallways and restrooms large enough to accommodate wheelchairs were required. And, a locker room for women, something that Widger said the department does not currently need, were required by code. “If you have a men’s locker room, you have to have a women’s, even if you don’t have female employees who need a locker room,” Widger said. Taking things a little bit at a time is what allowed this building to become a reality, according to officials. Over ten years ago, the town began setting a little aside in a building fund, saving $2 million of the $3.8 million price tag. The rest will be paid with bonds. Thinking towards the future, Widger said he has the building set on the site in such a way that 30 or 40 years from now, the Community Center could be expanded if needed and the two facilities connected. |
