Fire and police stations net award

Pittsburg Morning Sun - January 25, 2010
By Andrew Nash

PITTSBURG -
Pittsburg Interim Fire Chief Scott Crain knows the Pittsburg Police and Fire Stations are something special. But until Friday, he didn't know if anyone else in the state knew about it, too.
At Friday's 22nd annual State Building Awards in Wichita, Crain and other city officials discovered that the rest of the state did know how special the stations are.
During the awards ceremony, the stations received a pair of awards from the Associated General Contractors of Kansas Inc. The stations received the Award of Excellence (the top prize) in the category of New Construction over $10 million. The stations were also the recipient of second runner-up for the prestigious judge's choice award.
Crain, who attended the ceremony along with Interim City Manager John Van Gorden and City Commissioner Bill Rushton, said that 38 projects had been submitted to the board of judges.
Furthermore, Crain said the award goes beyond the police and fire stations and puts the city in a positive light.
"It reflects on the community for supporting the sales tax we put before them to construct these facilities," Crain said. "In the time that these were voted on, the economy was good. If we'd waited on them, who knows how long we would have had to wait."
Hartman Arena in Wichita and the Fidelity Carnegie Library Restoration were the two state projects that ranked higher in the judge's choice competition.
The awards particularly honor the architects and contractors behind the projects. Crossland Construction was the contractor for the Pittsburg fire and police stations while Williams, Spurgeon, Kuhl and Freshnock were the architects.
"It's an 'attaboy' for the community," Crain said. "It shows the rest of the state and contractors that even in trying times the city of Pittsburg is moving forward.
"It's a much needed facility planned for 40-50 years in the future. We won't have to expand for a long, long time. That's a hats off to the community."