During a workshop before the council meeting Thursday night, City Manager David Blackburn presented an overview of the city’s fire master plan, done by Emergency Services Consultants Inc. It laid out a number of options for dealing with potential growth in the city and the parallel need for expanded fire and EMS protection.
Blackburn advised the council to consider setting a general obligation bond election by its last meeting in February or first meeting in March for an option that would include funding for a new central fire station at a cost of about $7.4 million. It would also include a new Fire Station No. 8 with a training center and a $4.9 million emergency operations center, an engine for the proposed station 8 for $565,000, and replacement engines for stations 1 and 4 for $540,000 each.
If the council calls for the election, Blackburn said it would likely be held in conjunction with the May, or possibly November, elections.
He said a new station 8 would improve overall fire protection in the city. Although its location is not set, the report tentatively had it located in the area of Airport Trail and Little Mexico Road.
“If we do that (create a station 8) we improve our response time, not just in the immediate area, but throughout the city,” Blackburn told the council, addressing findings in the fire master plan.
He said combining the new station with the training center and the emergency operations center would also benefit the city.
“If we co-locate those three facilities, operations will be more efficient and more cost effective,” he said. “If all three of them are needed, it makes more sense to do them together.”
The report said the city’s training facility is outdated and ill-placed and has minimal resources for live burns and other training needs.
The emergency operations center, which is at the Municipal Building, has limited space and limited amenities for prolonged emergency operations.
The 10,900-square-foot station No. 1/fire administration offices building was built in 1964, according to the report, and needs more space for apparatus and firefighter living quarters and administrative offices. The report said space needs to be at least doubled in the station.
The report said the overall condition of the building is poor, including lack of gender-specific accommodations.
The report said improvements were “part of the equation” for improved reliability and response times.
One of the recommendations in the report was to improve the overall response times for the fire department.
Blackburn recommended the council should continue an EMS service that maintains its current average of two paramedics per company and continue to outsource ambulance services.
In October, the council accepted the report on the master plan that projected the city’s needs for the next 20 years and included the possibility of as many as eight new stations in the coming years.
Blackburn said the proposed election is the result of city staff members narrowing down priorities from recommendations in the report.
Emergency Services Consulting Inc., with headquarters in Wilsonville, Ore., began its study in March 2007 after the city contracted with the company for $62,298.
This bond, if approved, would be the second since November’s voter approval of a $9.75 million parks bond.
Also at the meeting the council approved the first reading of a conditional use permit that would allow crematorium operations at an existing mortuary service located downtown.
rstinson@temple-telegram.com
