(Greensburg, IN) – The City of Greensburg unveiled the new Municipal Complex on Barachel Lane during ceremonies and open house events on Saturday.
A ribbon cutting was first held for the Street Department building. Street Commissioner Mark Klosterkemper says his employees deserve the new digs, which he says will benefit the city.
“This is the first time in the 16 years that I’ve been with the City of Greensburg that we’ve had all of our equipment under roof, and that helps us tremendously as far as maintaining equipment and getting the best bang for the buck for the people of Greensburg,” Klosterkemper.
The main building is 21,000 square feet; the accessory building measures 6,000 square feet, and the salt barn is 2,400 square feet.
The department had been housed in a cramped building on Monfort Street that was built in 1969.
Festivities continued at the new Larry D. Filler Fire Station One, which is replacing the former headquarters on Ireland Street.
“We went from 9,400 square footage all the way up to about 21,000 square feet so we more than doubled the size,” said Chief Nathan Stoermer. “There are individual bunks, as well as hot, warm and cold zones that allow us to make sure that cancer causing chemicals that are in our fire gear are separated and not anywhere near us, as was not the case in our previous station.
“We’ve been in for one week now as we continue to work through thing, make things happen and put the final touches this great building as we grow into that and continue to do that,” Stoermer added. “We appreciate the community’s support, the support of our elected officials as well as all of our firefighters who have been anxiously anticipating getting in and moving into their facility.”
During the ceremony, Stoermer and Mayor Joshua Marsh named John Bryant with the Veridus Group an Honorary Fire Chief for his work and support as the project manager. Bryant and his family came to the podium where he was presented a fire chief helmet which had his name and the fire station layout on it.
Chief Stoermer added during his remarks that even though the fire department has moved, the headquarters will continue to bear the name of Larry Filler, who died in the line of duty in 1985.
The chief presented Filler’s widow, her new husband and Filler’s son with an American flag that flew over the new fire station for 24 hours starting last Wednesday, which was September 11 – the day 343 firefighters died following the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City.
Instead of a ribbon cutting, they held a firehose uncoupling ceremony to mark the opening of the new fire station. Uncoupling a fire hose means separating hoses that have been connected, and is typically done by firefighters after a fire has been put out.
The $20 million campus municipal complex had been in the works for the past two years.
Construction on the new fire station and street department headquarters began shortly ground was broken in May 2023.
Both buildings sit on 10 acres on a 20-acre parcel of land.
