The Shire of Collie has awarded a tender for the design and construction of two new bushfire brigade buildings at Worsley and Cardiff.
At the latest council meeting on December 11, shire councillors voted unanimously to award the tender for both buildings to local company White Building Co.
The Worsley Bush Fire Brigade building is estimated to cost $323,993, while the Collieburn-Cardiff Bush Fire Brigade building is expected to cost $529,100.
Last July, councillors approved the Worsley building to be constructed after they found the brigade didn’t conduct regular training or meetings, due to not having a dedicated facility to hold these in.
The new building will allow training and meetings to happen, and will house the Worsley light tanker, which will no longer have to be stored on private property.
Worsley bushfire control officer Graham Genev said the brigade was pleased to see the tender awarded.
“Having this building will mean all our equipment, our training, our meetings and all those things can come together in the one place, like most of the other local brigades,” he said.
Grants from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services Local Government Grant Scheme were obtained to cover the cost of construction.
However, the shire will be covering the costs of connection to services including power, water, septic and ground works, which is a $30,000 cost to the shire per building.
In July, councillors voted to provide for the transfer of $30,000 to the council’s building reserve as part of the 2018/19 draft budget representing ground works and supply of services to the new Worsley building.
They also voted to consider an allocation of another $30,000 for a new facility to be built for the Collieburn-Cardiff brigade, but only if its LGGS grant application was approved.
The application has since been approved and a decision to allocate $30,000 in the mid-year budget review will be considered shortly.
