CASTLEFORD - City Hall will move by mid-February to make way for a new water well.

The City Council decided on Wednesday to move city offices from 342 Main St. to the building next-door, now used to house the fire trucks of the Castleford Fire Department.

"If we had someplace to go it wouldn't be a big deal," said fire Chief Brigg Vulgamore. "But we don't have anywhere to go."

City Hall is too close to the proposed new well, according to federal restrictions that dictate a 50-foot radius around new wells that is clear of any structures or debris.

The city had an option, though: either move the restroom at its current facility so it is more than 50 feet from the new well and use the Fire Department's building as the water system's treatment facility; or use the current City Hall for the treatment facility and use the Fire Department's garage for city offices.

Either way, the fire trucks will be out in the cold, which could mean the department is less ready when fire strikes. Worse, subfreezing temperatures could ruin the emergency response vehicles.

"We can drain the trucks before parking them, but then we aren't ready for a fire," Vulgamore said. "I guess we don't really have a choice."

Council members didn't like the idea of kicking the Fire Department out in the cold. Councilwoman Pansy Pettit suggested that the council do more research on the issue.

"Can't we talk to (city engineer) Don Acheson about this?" she said.

But Mayor Rita Ruffing said Castleford is out of options.

To meet Environmental Protection Agency guidelines that say drinking water must have 10 parts per billion of arsenic or less, the city must soon start building the treatment facility. The city's arsenic level has been recorded at 22 ppb.

Recently, the city passed a bond issue to pay for the $1.6 million project. The first visible work to be done on the project will be the drilling of the new well.

"We knew this was coming when we decided that we would have to move because of the well," Ruffing said. "At this point, nothing more can be done."

In the meantime, city officials will see if anyone has a large enough garage to store the fire trucks as a favor to the city.

"Tell the firemen that they are all valued," Pettit said. "We are sorry to have to boot you out of the building."

Times-News correspondent Blair Koch can be reached by e-mail at blairkoch@gmail.com or by calling 316-2607.