Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets and Fire Chief Matt Stidham brought Frankfort Rotarians up to date on City business Thursday Noon at Arborwood. A wide variety of fast moving projects and goals were discussed as the Mayor and Fire Chief laid out what the area can expect in the Frankfort area in the next several months.
- Twelve street paving projects totaling $900,000 will be done by the end of good weather this year. After this summer no streets in Frankfort will have a “Paver Rating” of 1 and very few 2 ratings will exist. Frankfort streets are ranked by an independent firm. A rating of “1” is the worst and “10” is best.
- Speed bumps are being placed in or near Dorner, TPA and 3rd Street parks to slow down traffic where children may be playing.
- The Peacocks and some birds will stay at TPA park for now. All Zoo animals are in the process of being placed at new locations that are equipped to handle them. Peacocks will stay at TPA Park for now. Peacocks are free range and help with insect control.
- Barner Street Railroad track not in use will be removed, road smoothed down and repaved this summer. Frankfort-Lafayette interurban railroad track used to run on Barner Street. Any remaining buried track removal on Barner Street is included in the accepted bid in the Barner Street resurface agreement. The Barner Street Railroad tracks still in use will remain. One theory is the washboarding surface on Barner is caused by the buried interurban track.
- Progress on new housing in Riley School Addition, and possible duplex project on Southwest side of Frankfort are underway. New homes on Sunrise Drive off Maish Road and Haven Avenue are making progress. Additionally, Duplex homes on Frankfort’s SW side are also planned. Clinton County Daily News will keep you posted on these new housing developments.
- Summer Concert Series at Prairie Creek Park hosts at least six FREE shows for the public beginning at 6:30. All shows at the park are free and complete with a beer garden and local food venders. Shows are not taxpayer funded but made possible by economic development TIF funds.
- Splash pad at Prairie Creek Park opened on time this summer. Minor repairs had to be made to get ready for the season but this was completed and opened on time. The splash pad at Prairie Creek Park operates every day throughout the summer, weather permitting, from 10AM to 8PM.
- Sapphire Bay Swimming Pool at TPA park is open. One water slide is down with a broken pump. The $20,000 pump replacement is ordered. Replacement of the slide water pump is expected later this summer.
- Mayor Sheets encourages citizens to attend the monthly “Muffins with the Mayor” meetings at the recently renovated TPA park concession stand. Sheets says “Muffins with the Mayor” an excellent way to keep up with what the City of Frankfort is doing.
- Several new residents are already permanently relocating to Frankfort who are linked with the Lilly/LEAP project. The LEAP project is located approximately 10 miles south of the Frankfort City Limits.
- Mayor Sheets challenged Rotarians and the Frankfort community to embrace a positive mindset, particularly on social media. Her implication at the Thursday Noon Rotary Club meeting and on her live WILO Radio appearance Friday morning was that a positive, unified, can-do spirit, problem solving approach can help the City of Frankfort continue to grow and prosper. Mayor Sheets and other WILO partyline guests welcome questions and concerns from the community.
Matt Stidham, Frankfort Fire Chief, gave a detailed report on the new Fire Station #4 planned for construction near the 28 West/600 West intersection. According to Judy Sheets Friday morning on WILO Partyline, all permits for construction have now been approved and a firm ground breaking date can now be set, probably in late June or early July. The new fire station will then be completed about 13 months later, according to plan. Clinton County can expect completion by August 2026. No existing fire stations will close since each location plays a key role in the ability to respond to fires in the service area.
The new fire station is a “BOT” project, standing for “Build-Operate-Transfer”. Envoy will own the ground, own the building and control the entire project. When the building is completed, Envoy will transfer ownership of the building to the City of Frankfort for $10,500,000. This appoach “locks in” the price of the project and eliminates “price creep” for the City that can occur with construction projects.
The new fire station will be two stories and enclose about 15,000 square feet and include 3 drive through bays, upstairs living quarters with a pole to engine room, bathroom and dressing areas to accommodate male and female personnel, garaged space for a command vehicle and several other features designed not only for the current demands but also designed with the next 40 or 50 years in mind.
The main Fire Department headquarters will remain at the Main Station on Clay Street. The Clay Street building is currently the newest fire station building in Frankfort, constructed in 1968.
The new fire station #4 will house three fire fighters with plans for a fourth fire fighter when the new “Quint” fire truck is delivered. The Quint truck at the new Fire Station combines ladder truck functions with water tank, aerial ladder/elevating platform, fire pump hose bed to store and deploy fire hoses. The new Quint truck now on order costs about 1.7 million dollars. The City of Frankfort also has on order a new $900,000 fire truck to help keep the fleet modern and cover increased square milage of the new Frankfort city limits extending to I-65. The new fire truck has been paid for by the Redevelopment commission and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds.
Some expenses of the Frankfort Fire Department are supplemented by funding from Jackson, Union and Washington Townships in exchange for fire coverage in those areas.
Frankfort is very close to achieving a “Class 3 ISO” Rating. According to Stidham, this reclassification, if and when it occurs, will lower insurance rates significantly for residents and businesses throughout Frankfort. 98% of all fire calls are currently out the door within 3 minutes. 92% arrive at destination in 9 minutes and 30 seconds. These numbers will improve significantly with commissioning Station #4. A corner of the Clinton County in the Fire Department area on I-65 is impossible to get to quickly until the new station is on line.
The City of Frankfort anticipates significant growth in the Jefferson to I-65 four lane corridor and the Fire Department will be ready. Incoming industry will want to see fire response times that will soon be enabled by the new station.
