Moldy Rosso Administration Building is Unsafe - Needs Replacing

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http://detnews.com/2001/macomb/0102/09/b05-185826.htm

February 9, 2001

Trustee wants new government center

Bond issue would pay for on Township facility

By Gene Schabath / The Detroit News

HARRISON TOWNSHIP -- Dick Sheehy considers himself a man of ideas. Now,

he has a plan to replace the township's dilapidated fire station and unsafe

administration building.

Sheehy said that on Monday, he will ask his colleagues on the on

Township Board of Trustees to consider construction of a multi-purpose

building that will include a fire station, administration offices, senior

center, court house and Macomb County Sheriff's Department substation.

Sheehy, who was elected to the board in November, said the South River

Road fire station and Rosso Administration Building have to be

replaced. Extensive repairs also are needed at the senior center, said

Sheehy, who wants to dedicate the completed project to U.S. armed service

veterans and call it Freedom Hall.

" It makes sense to incorporate all of the township offices into one

building, " he said.

Bonds would finance the project, which would be built at Metropolitan

Parkway and Jefferson. A $1-million bond issue passed by voters last

November for the fire station would help pay for Freedom Hall, Sheehy said.

Total cost and size of the building would be determined later.

The plan has merit, said township Clerk Pierce, whose office is

in the Rosso building. The building's roof leaks and studies show

concentrations of carbon dioxide, as well as bacteria and mold.

" If anything, this proposal might spur the board into looking for a new

facility and what needs to be done to address the problems, " Pierce said.

" What we need to do is potentially move forward with what the cost would be

for the property and putting up the structure. "

Similar multi-purpose complexes have been well-received in neighboring

Clinton Township, and Redford Township and Livonia in Wayne County.

on Township Fire Chief Staelgraeve said the township has

been looking for a new site for the 45-year-old South River Road station.

One of the sites considered for the new fire station is property at

Metropolitan Parkway and Jefferson that belongs to marina owner Bill

McMachen, Sheehy said.

The township's senior center on Ballard and Campau has an acoustical

problem that could cost as much as $100,000 to correct, he said.

When Sheehy served on the township board 22 years ago, he proposed

building a bike trail along the Metropolitan Parkway median, beginning at

Metropolitan Beach.

Board members scoffed, but in the mid-1980s, then-township Supervisor

resurrected the bike trail idea. The trail now extends more

than 20 miles through on Township, Mt. Clemens and Sterling Heights.

You can reach Gene Schabath at (810) 468-3614 or gschabath@....