By Dave Niinemets
Enquirer contributor

EDGEWOOD - Sometimes just parking one of their trucks can be as tricky as putting out a blaze for the Edgewood Fire Department. With only a few inches of clearance for the aerial ladder truck, the fire department garage is a tight squeeze.

"If you bounce the front of the truck by putting on the brakes too quickly, you'll hit the top," said Fire Chief Joe Messmer. "It's like putting a hand in a glove. It's very tight."

But in 2003, the fire department, along with the city's police department and administration, will get some much-needed breathing room. City officials are working on plans for all new buildings and a new community center.

"Right now it's still in the conceptual design phase," said City Administrator Roger Rolfes. "Next month the architects will present and hopefully finalize the plans and we can get started on the community building."

City Council has narrowed down six options from Cole and Russell Architects of Cincinnati. The options chosen will call for an estimated $4.7 million for the city building and new fire department and police department and about $400,000 for the community center. The money will come from cash reserves and bond proceeds.

"We're hoping the total package will stay close to the original estimate,"Mr. Rolfes said. "It just depends on how things go when you go out to bid."

The first phase of the project will be the community center. The 6,000-square-foot building will be erected between an existing soccer field and Thomas More Parkway. It will be welcomed by the city's senior citizens group that will use the building for meetings.

"It will be a lot better for us," said Roy Holden, chairman of the seniors group. "There will better parking and it will be on one floor, which is nice for our members with disabilities."

The group has been meeting at St. Pius Church. But changes to that building will leave them without a place to meet in the spring. Mr. Holden said St. Pius has been a great place to meet for the group of 164 members, but the community center will be even better.

"This just seems to be a better situation all the way around," he said.

Mr. Rolfes expects the community center to be finished by early summer. At that time, the city administration will move to the community center and the fire and police departments will utilize the public works facilities. The existing city building on Dudley Road will then be razed to make way for a new 33,000-square-foot structure.

The original city building was built in 1982. The original fire department was constructed in 1962 and has since been remodeled. Mr. Rolfes says all of the departments have outgrown their spaces.

"The police department is going to double their square footage and so is the fire department. The city administration will be 50 percent bigger," Mr. Rolfes said. "Things have just changed so much in the past two decades. It was probably fine when it was built, but not now."

He added that all of the departments face problems with storage. With 65 volunteers, four full-time members and 26 part-time members, Mr. Messmer said it's tough to even house those on duty. The department has been keeping volunteers at Thomas More College so they are ready for action.

"That's been a godsend but only two people can stay there and we need much more than that," he said. He added that he expects even more volunteers once the new facilities are in place.

Mr. Rolfes says the project awaits the architects' plans. . Once the final plans are approved, he expects development of the project to move quickly.