A new fire hall is closer to becoming a reality in Neepawa. Council awarded the engineering contract and selected the site of the future hall at this week's council meeting. Mayor Adrian de Groot says it's exciting to see progress on the new hall, especially since it's been discussed for several years.

"Previous council's have apologized because it just didn't materialize. Getting that next step is exciting. Once we get the final drawings we'll be able to go to tender to look at the cost. It also begins to see some structural things that are going to be happening in what people see as a large vacant area that was purchased by the town a number of years ago, known as the old CN property."

De Groot notes the current fire hall is beginning to show its age, and is located on a busy street. He notes this has led to challenges in the past, so the new location will be a real benefit to the firefighters.

"The current street is a busy street. Across the road there are three churches, as a consequence there's lots of traffic and parking on Sundays or even at other times during the week for funerals and things like that. It can be congested, so it really feels good to move that along."

He expects to see the engineers report and drawing in the spring, and says it's possibly construction could start as early as next fall.