The Ames City Council awarded an Urbandale construction company a $1.5 million contract to build a third fire station Tuesday.

The Keystone Group placed the winning bid of slightly less than $1.5 million to build the new facility on Duff Avenue and Airport Road. The Keystone group has won bids for three other Ames projects.

The new station is part of a $2.6 million project, which includes the $945,000 building, two additional vehicles – a ladder truck and a rescue vehicle – and operating expenses, said City Manager Steve Schainker.

A $1.31 million bond issue passed by 92 percent in a special election last summer. The bond needed 60 percent approval from Ames voters, said Ames Fire Chief Clint Petersen.

“After that, the Council authorized us to hire an architect to design the new building,” he said.

The proposal for a bond issue for the new fire station came after a study conducted four years ago, Petersen said. The study showed the response time was below the city’s goal of reaching 85 percent of the community within five minutes, he said.

The location of the new station was chosen from 30 potential sites using the city’s Geographic Information System, a computer program that can calculate the response times.

“It allows us to answer the `what if’ question – `What if we put it here or what if we put here?’ ” Petersen said.

The chosen site, just east of the intersection of South Duff Avenue and Airport Road, is currently the home of a state-operated tree nursery, but Petersen said the city was able to get the land from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The land the city obtained for one dollar from the state otherwise would cost between $400,000 and $700,000, he said.

Ames officials received 13 construction bids Jan. 30. By Iowa law, the lowest bid wins the contract, Peterson said.

Construction on the new fire station is scheduled to be complete by Oct. 31, 2002.

Property taxes will help fund the new station, said Duane Pitcher, city finance director. Bonds have already been issued and will be repaid through property taxes each year for the next 12 years, he said.

The construction costs are included in the expenses accounted for in the bond issue and operating costs are paid each year by taxpayers.