New Carthage fire station to be staffed, open this year
The
It caps a nearly 20-year march toward a new station, which was spurred on by development on the southern edge of town.
Chief
It will be paid for with proceeds of a quarter-cent sales tax, which voters approved in 2011 on the promise of a southern substation and new firefighting equipment.
Since then, the city evaluated several potential sites, including a property near the high school that didn't meet the department's needs.
"This has been a long time coming," Williams said.
The new building will sit on roughly 2 acres that were donated in 2014 by
The three-bay structure will be staffed by three firefighters at first, with plans for more hires later on, Williams said. Three trucks will be housed at the substation along with other equipment.
The sales tax will continue to generate funds for the department until 2031. In 2017, the city budgeted
In preparation for the opening this fall of the new substation, the council next week will consider a measure to expand the hiring footprint of the fire department. Department employees currently must live within the city limits.
With the council's approval, people who live within 15 miles of the main fire station,
If the measure is adopted, "the pool that I would have for hiring folks would expand by quite a bit," Williams said. "It's getting harder and harder to get candidates."
The rule limiting new hires to city residents seems designed in part to ensure that firefighters live near the station and can arrive at work quickly in an emergency, but the fire district's borders provide an uneven standard, said
The new measure will be introduced for a first council reading at
"Everything seems to be going toward the south end of town," Shelfer said. "That's important to our future. It's time to get some infrastructure in that area."
Posed territory
If the
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