Wheeling Service Fee Funds Help Fire Department Needs, More | News, Sports, Jobs

While millions in City Service Fee dollars are being tapped for fire department improvements, some additional funding sources are expected to be utilized to help complete some planned upgrades at the various stations in the city, as most of the funds generated by the fee for public safety upgrades are being used for construction of the new headquarters on 17^th Street.

The City Service Fee – or User Fee – is a $2 per week fee paid by everyone who works in the city. Out of that weekly $2 fee, $1 goes to fund public safety facilities in Wheeling and the other $1 is dedicated to pay for infrastructure projects.

Next week, members of Wheeling City Council are expected to approve an ordinance authorizing City Manager Robert Herron to spend $21,000 with Mattucci Roofing of Wheeling for roof restoration on Fire Station No. 4 in South Wheeling. This repair is to be charged to the City Service Fee account.

Legislation was introduced before city council last week for the proposed roof replacement to the South Wheeling station, located at 3618 Jacob St.

“The roof at Station 4 over the apparatus bay has developed a leak,” Wheeling Fire Chief Jim Blazier said. “After a temporary repair, it was discovered the roof was deteriorating and in need of a full replacement. This repair is one of the many upgrades to our fire stations that are scheduled and made possible by the City Service Fee.”

Another new contract for fire department equipment to be paid through the City Service Fee is also expected to be passed next week. City council is scheduled to approve a contract with Dagostino Electronic Services of Pittsburgh in the amount of $243,472 for structured cabling, access controls and surveillance equipment.

The City Service Fee is also being used to pay for the construction of the new $9 million Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters – which is currently being built on 17^th Street in East Wheeling. The firm of &build, a PCS company, secured the general contract for the new 26,860-square-foot facility that was designed by M&G Architects and Engineers.

Ground was broken on the new headquarters in August of last year, and the new facility has been under construction since then, on schedule to be completed by the end of this year.

Wheeling’s City Service Fee also paid for the $6.5 million transformation of a vacant hospital office building on Chapline Street in Center Wheeling into the new Wheeling Police Department Headquarters, which just became fully operational last week. An official ribbon cutting for the new Police Headquarters and a public open house is expected to be scheduled to take place within the next few weeks.

Funds dedicated to the public safety portion of the City Service Fee had also been tapped to bring improvements to other fire stations throughout Wheeling. Initially, about $1 million from the public safety portion of the fee was expected to go toward improvements at other fire stations around the city. However, an engineering firm that subsequently worked on the plans for station improvements discovered foundation issues at Station 2 and Station 10, and those repairs added an estimated $750,000, according to the city manager. The bids for the new headquarters also came in higher than expected, so most of the City Service Fee allocation ended up being dedicated to that major construction project.

However, renovations are still planned at the other stations throughout town, Herron said.

“Beginning in 2020, we began accumulating funds in the City Service account – for the police and fire half – which have enabled us to begin making repairs to stations, such as the roof repair at Station 4, and cut into that estimated $1 million list of repairs,” Herron explained. “We will be proposing the possible use of some of the project fund, and in addition, have submitted earlier this month a Congressionally Directed Funding Request of $1.3 million for the remaining improvements.”