LINCOLN — The final inspection for the new Fire Station was held Wednesday.

“We will finish the inspection Wednesday and send the punch list to the contractor probably Thursday,” said Leonard Robinson, architect with Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood. “We are looking at the building to see if it’s move-in ready. We want to make sure everything is functioning, especially in emergency situations.”

The new Lincoln City Hall and Fire Station is on Magnolia Street, where the old elementary school was. The final inspection for City Hall was held in January and the punch list sent to Boatner Construction Company, which is building the Lincoln City Hall and Fire Station.

Robinson said there should only be a couple of weeks worth of work left on the interior of the Fire Station, according to the punch list.

“We are looking at March 2 for the substantial completion date for the project,” he said.

Robinson said the substantial completion date is when the owner could begin using the building — provided there are no major problems with the final inspection.

Lincoln Councilman Bud Kitchin said officials will not actually begin moving into the building once the substantial completion date is met.

“They will start work on items outside of the Boatner contract, such as the data network, telephone systems, furniture and things like that,” he said. “They are already working on some of it.”

Kitchin said a moving date has not been set yet.

John Nolen, project manager for Boatner Construction Company, said there is approximately 2-3 weeks of exterior work to complete, including landscaping, striping and signage.

“We are waiting on good weather,” he said.

Fire Chief Mike Wesley said he is pleased with the new Fire Station.

“It’s very nice — the nicest station I’ve seen,” he said.

Wesley said the Fire Station can house all of the department’s equipment.

“We fill up about half of the Fire Station so we have room to double in size,” he said. “We are looking to the future.”

Wesley said the new Fire Station also has a phone outside for emergencies that automatically dials 911.

“If we are out on a call, it lets us know that someone is here and needs help,” he said.

Wesley said firefighters like the fact each shift will have its own refrigerator.

“We can’t wait to get in here,” he said. “It shouldn’t take long to move in. Most of our stuff is on computers. I estimate it will take about two days to move in and about a week to get set up, but when we get here we will be ready and be running calls.”

Mayor Lew Watson said the new Fire Station is designed to meet the needs of the community as it grows.

“We hope it will meet the needs for the next 100 years,” he said. “We tried to anticipate the long-term demands. We are not building for today — we are trying to build to last a long time.”

Watson said the current City Hall was not built that way. The new City Hall was built with extra office space because city officials recognized they would need that space down the road.

“We didn’t anticipate the growth that came,” he said. “We just didn’t see it 40 years ago, couldn’t envision it back then. I don’t want to repeat that mistake.”

Contact Elsie Hodnett at ehodnett@dailyhome.com.