EMS to move into former Tribune building
COSHOCTON – On Monday, Aug. 28 during a regular meeting, the Coshocton County Commissioners signed a purchase and sale agreement with Gannett GP Media, Inc. for the purchase of the Coshocton Tribune building on Main and Sixth streets for the amount of $275,000. Plans are being made to renovate the building to accommodate and house the Coshocton County Emergency Medical Services.
Todd Shroyer, director of Coshocton EMS, said that they are in the preliminary stages of the project and will be working with the same engineer who constructed their new Warsaw building last year.
“We’re trying to figure out how to arrange the building and take our time to make a nice place for the crew and the office area without tearing down too many walls or doing too much,” said Shroyer. “The less we do to the building, the less it will cost.”
The goal is to have a renovation budget of $425,000 to $500,000 with a total budget of $700,000 to $800,000 including the purchase of the building.
Current plans include adding offices and a crew area in the section of the building closest to Sixth Street. The back of the building will be used as a garage to house six emergency vehicles. The garage doors will face the alley and the area will be 42 feet wide and 60 feet deep. The front of the building facing Main Street will be turned into a training area and meeting room. Shroyer hopes to have CPR and first aid classes in that area.
Currently, EMS is located on Chestnut Street, which is a small building and not very efficient for the crew.
“It’ll be nice to be able to have a place for things and not have to have everything so cramped,” said Shroyer.
Shroyer said that the commissioners are talking with other county departments to see if they would be interested in the building on Chestnut Street.
“We’re really excited and when all is said and done, we have to run on our budget,” said Shroyer. “We’re not going to go out and get additional tax funding for this. We have to stay on budget and we will stay on budget.”
Shroyer is hoping that the new building will be more spacious than their location in Warsaw.
“If we can pull this off, we should have almost three times the living space as the Warsaw building and a garage that holds six vehicles instead of three, which is what the Warsaw building holds,” he said. “If everything goes as planned, we’ll be able to do this building for the same amount as we did the Warsaw building. We’ll have about twice the building for the same price.”
Category: Government