Greensburg’s public works staff moved into a new garage in March.
The public will be invited inside to tour the nearly 13,000-square-foot facility at 520 Urania Ave. during an open house from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
While adults might be curious to see the results of the roughly $1.7 million construction project, the event also will appeal to kids, with coloring books and a truck display by the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department.
Handlers and dogs from the department’s bloodhound team will be on hand from 11 a.m. to noon.
The new building houses a tractor, a street sweeper and 16 other vehicles. It replaced a garage dating from the 1970s that was destroyed in an October 2019 fire that started in the city’s street sweeper.
The new garage offers several advantages over its predecessor, according to Tom Bell, director of public works. “It’s on the same exact spot, but we had a little bit of a different design,” he said.
Outside the garage, Bell said, “We were able to create more parking. We moved the salt building to our (Mt. Odin) golf course, in the driving range area.”
Inside, he said, the garage has gained a conference room for meetings with employees or vendors and a break room for the workers.
“The mechanics have a separate area to do oil changes, instead of in the middle of the floor,” Bell said, adding: “There is a mezzanine area with a ton of storage space in our parts room area.”
During planning and construction of the new garage, operations were divided among a maintenance facility at the golf course, the former freight station behind city hall and a leased building on Clark Street.
Now that the updated garage is completed, Bell said, it’s allowed for consolidation of all operations — including electrical and maintenance functions — at that single location.
Equipment that was lost or damaged in the fire has been restored. “We’re back in full operation,” Bell said.
