Work has started on a new Police and Fire Training and Storage Facility in Newton. 

The facility is being constructed on city-owned ground northeast of Newton’s waterworks operations building at 500 West 7th Street North. One of the goals established by Newton’s City Council for this year through 2027, includes spending approximately $100,000 on completing phase two of this project. Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler says the new building will be used to keep a spare ambulance and a variety of items for the police department.

“Every day, 24 hours per day, we run 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 the 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.