Jackson seeks new home for bucket trucks

The city of Jackson has already seen what can happen when an important building is damaged during a storm.

Firefighters and police officers had to scramble on May 6 when the police and fire department building was ripped to shreds by a tornado.

City officials are in the process now of making sure it will take a tornado -- not just a thunderstorm -- to take out their electric trucks.

Currently, many of the electric department's trucks are housed in a termite-infested building that officials say is barely standing. They're afraid that the next big storm will knock the building down and take with it several bucket trucks that could be vital to getting power restored to the town.

"From that standpoint, this building is definitely needed," said alderwoman Barbara Lohr. "If you drive by and look at the building, it is pretty evident the need is there."

The excavation of a new and bigger building has been completed, and the Board of Aldermen will rule on a contract for the foundation tonight. The low bidder is Kluesner Concreters of Scott City at $43,515.

The project is a bit unusual in that the city has taken on the general contractor's role. Don Schuette, Jackson's director of electric utilities, has also taken on the responsibility of overseeing the construction of the $135,000, 7,500-square-foot building.

"I'm just trying to save the city some money," Schuette said. "That's my job."

His involvement will save the city an estimated $40,000.

City administrator Jim Roach said it isn't rare for the city to oversee projects -- the fire department renovated the fire administration building, for instance -- but it's not the norm.

"We probably do that more in the electric department more than the other departments," Roach said. "Don has a lot of capabilities, frankly, which is why we trust him to do that. We're tapping into some expertise and that will save the city money. He's going to save back the biggest part of his salary in one project and he's done this type of thing before."

Schuette came to the city of Jackson about a year and a half ago from Lone Star Industries in Cape Girardeau, where he was the head of the electric department there.

Roach said the current building is at least 50 years old.

The new building will be erected on a patch of ground across from the old building, just off the recycling center access road, referred to unofficially as Crites Drive.

Schuette said the work on laying the foundation should begin this week and is shooting for a completion date in September.

Roach said the original thought was that the old building would be torn down immediately, but he has since hedged on that idea. He said the city may try to squeeze a few more years out of the facility and use it to protect a couple of street department dump trucks that are not used in day-to-day operations but are currently kept outside.

"That way, if the building falls down, those will be vehicles we won't need right away but we will still be able to get out," he said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635