BEATRICE – Beatrice-area residents who were instrumental in a major public safety project get to see it up close, in a couple of weeks.
An open house for the new Beatrice Fire and Rescue Station along South 6th, is set for Saturday, October 23rd…starting with a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m….and then the open house and tours of the facility until noon.


"It's been 18 months, probably two years since the time we started thinking about it, putting together the campaign and everything....acquisition of the property, demolition...but that site's really changed down there. I hope people are getting excited...I know we are, at the city."


Voters approved a half-cent addition to the local sales tax to finance the more than $8 million headquarters. City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says moving day into the new facility is yet to be determined.  "Just how you move all the trucks over there and all of the equipment and start running calls out of that station. We're still working through some of that. Today is punch list day, so JEO, Hampton and our guys are down there walking through the building, putting a punch list together...so, we're getting close."


Most of the work remaining is taking place on the interior, along with some finishing work on the roof. Tempelmeyer says getting fiber and phone communications in place and a fire hydrant nearby for use in fire practice is on the list of final things.


"Furniture is starting to arrive and be assembled and moved into the building. I think it's here this week...if not, next week. If you're around on the outside, you're starting to see the landscaping and final grading to get ready for sprinklers to be put in and those type of things. The hard part now is all of those things...they're small. It was easy to see progress when all of a sudden, a wall went up today. You drove home from work and you saw another two walls up...and you said, man, they're really moving. And now, you see them put on three light switches...what's the big deal. So if looks a lot slower, but guys are doing a good job, down there."


The new building replaces a department in the lower level of the Beatrice City Auditorium, that has been used since 1965. Tempelmeyer says, "I try to remind people when they look at the size of the building, look at the size of the trucks, when they're in there. Then remember, you have to have office space...you got to have space for the guys to sleep and live, and kitchens. When you start to put all those pieces together, you realize just how big the building comes together, at that point."


Since the half-cent sales tax went into place to pay for bond issues that finance the station, Tempelmeyer says collection has been ahead of schedule. He says it was expected about $90,000 would be received each month but collection has been coming in at over $100,000 per month…meaning the project could be paid off earlier than expected.