The Newton City Council has unanimously chosen a site for a new storage facility that’s to be shared by the police and fire departments. The site is vacant city-owned ground northeast of the city’s waterworks operations building at 500 West 7th Street North. Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler expects the building will be completed by June of next year, and will be used to keep a spare ambulance and a variety of items for the police department.

“Everyday, 24 hours per day, we are running three ambulances. We keep a fourth one in reserve just in case one of the ambulances has to go into the shop for maintenance. That will be the ambulance storage. Plenty of evidence and bicycles and anything you can think of that police need to keep in storage will also be stored at that location.”

Muckler says both departments previously had indoor storage areas. The fire department gave up their storage at the current Water Works Operations building in 2023, when Water Works purchased a vacuum truck that needs to be stored indoors. The police department’s small storage building west of the City Administration building was demolished in 2021 to enlarge the parking lot and create more space for fire department vehicles to enter and exit their facility.