Lowndes County supervisors will revisit a request Monday to purchase property for a new main fire station in District 1.
The board tabled the request during its April 1 meeting after District 1 supervisor and board president Harry Sanders said he had no prior knowledge of the request and needed time to get more information before agreeing to loan the department the money to purchase a 3.24-acre parcel in Caledonia.
District 1 Chief Mark Spears said he has been in contact with Sanders since then and has explained the department’s concerns about outgrowing its current station, as well as potential access issues if first responders were to be dispatched at peak traffic hours. Spears said based on those discussions, he believes the board will support the request.
“If you’re going to be a good steward of taxpayer money, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got all your questions answered,” Spears said. “I talked with (Sanders) about everything and explained what we’re looking at doing. He sounded very receptive to it.”
Other benefits of a new station at the proposed location include the ability to test hoses without shutting down public thoroughfares and the capacity to house displaced people during severe weather. The current District 1 station, Spears said, was not built to house newer trucks, which are larger than older ones due to updated safety regulations from the Mississippi Insurance Department.
If the motion passes Monday, which Sanders expects, the board will front the department the funding to purchase the property immediately, with the department repaying the county in installments.
“It shouldn’t be any problem whatsoever,” Sanders said. “We’ve just got to get an appraisal on it. If the purchase price is within what it is appraised for, we don’t have any problem buying it.”
If approved, the construction process will begin soon, Spears said.
“We don’t have a set date because everything is still in limbo, but we’re looking at breaking ground as soon as possible,” he said. “We’re not going to sit on our laurels and draw this out. We’ve already got a basic plan of what we want, building-wise, and it’s just a matter of pulling the trigger after sitting down and figuring out what we want it to look like. From there, it’s going to depend on the availability of contractors.”
The board will meet at 9 a.m. Monday at the Lowndes County Courthouse. Spears will not be present, but District 1 volunteer firefighters Tim Younger and Jeff Hays will be on hand to answer board members’ questions.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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