Staff Reports
A 20+ year wait is coming to an end as the Jefferson Economic Development Corp approved $400,000 in funding to build a new fire station.
The last station was built in 1955 when the City moved City Hall and the fire department to the corner of Polk and Austin streets.
Ward 1 Alderman Charles “Bubba” Haggard provided an overview of his work over the last few years in finding a grant to build a station.
“i’ve contacted state senators and representatives, USDA, our grant writers, ETCOG, … and all funds coming from the federal government are on hold at this time, and there are no state funds anyone can tell me about,” Haggard said. “Several people have been looking for grants for over a decade.”
Jefferson Fire Marshall Victor Perot echoed Haggards comments on funding, adding that “if I were to write to 15-20 Foundations requesting funding it would take years to put the money together to build this. There is no money available.”
Haggard also pointed out that Upshur County Emergency Services built a station last year that is slightly larger than what was proposed for Jefferson at a cost of $550,000.
JEDCO president James Parsons agreed a new station was needed, but opposed using JEDCO monies to fund the station.
“I don’t like the idea of us needing to fund this,” Parsons said. “it’s a legitimate use of our funds, but
Questions were raised as to why the City and County had not been able to assist in funding the project, and Perot responded the funds were just not available. He said the County does assist in funding for the department, supplying about half their budget.
Perot said the big savings is that they already have plans which were drawn up in 2019, so no engineering and architectural work is needed. He also said a lot of the internal work Could be done by volunteers.
“I hope the City Council appreciates the size of this request,” Parsons said.
Parsons raised the issue that the City could be talking to the County in increasing the amount of funding supplied to the department due to the number of calls in the County the respond to. He also suggested the City move their various departments around to better utilize the properties they have to resolve the City Hall needs. He suggested moving the Police Department to the “fire hall”, and City Hall into the current police department building.
The City and JPD have previously indicated those options would not be viable based on operational needs.
Board member David Westbrook reminded Parsons City Hall was not on the agenda and they needed to focus on the agenda.
In the end, JEDCO approved the funding with the stipulation if a grant became available between now and construction, then JEDCO’s portion would change to a match up to $400,000.
JEDCO had $1.8 million in available funds at the end of May.
In other business, JEDCO continued their discussion on a separate website. Parsons indicated a proposal had been received and requested the responsibility to review the proposals to Porsche Johnson.
The possibility of hiring a consultant to bring more retail business to Jefferson was discussed but more research was needed..
JEDCO will meet again on July 8.