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Sandy breaks ground on public works building damaged in fire more than a year ago

Posted at 8:17 PM, Apr 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-06 22:17:56-04

SANDY – It was an exciting day for Sandy City as leaders broke ground on a new public works building Friday.

The state of the art building will serve as a hallmark.

“It`s gonna be incredibly smart as far as technology," Sandy Mayor Kurt Bradburn said. "It's gonna be energy-efficient. It's gonna be low-impact on the environment."

Reaching this milestone hasn’t been easy. In January 2017, a massive fire gutted the Sandy City public works building, caused $5 million in damage, and destroyed half of its snow plows.

“It was a pretty heavy loss,” said Mike Gladbach, who was named the director of public works a month before the fire broke out. “It was hard to stand there and watch the fire when you're the new director and your people are showing up and they're looking at you and going, what do you do?”

Employees didn’t skip a beat. Days later, they resumed service thanks to help from sister cities.

“We had assets and equipment from UDOT, West Jordan and Bountiful—everybody came together and said: 'What do you need?'" Bradburn recalled.

“Everybody was there, we actually had to say no," Gladbach said. "Tells you who your friends are."

Construction on the first phase will be a little over $5 million – most of it covered by insurance. Mayor Bradburn says residents won’t see any kind of tax increase.

“We were living in a tin building anyways, but it was time to build a good building," Gladbach said. "Something that the employees can be proud of. Something the city can be proud of."

The first phase should be completed in 11 months.