Allen County's West Central Fire District’s governing board voted Monday to set aside $700,000 for anticipated costs of gathering information for proposed facilities upgrades for the department.
Almost two weeks ago, fire protection district officials went to the Allen County Council to ask for help in funding those facility upgrades. Officials said the current West Central headquarters are at capacity and have no room to grow as the district grows.
West Central Fire District Office Administrator Chris Perez said none of the fire department needs are dire right now. She said the department is trying to be proactive rather than reactive to anticipated population growth in the area.
Officials said a new fire station would be built in a more centralized location than the current headquarters and would give the department a station north of a busy railroad crossing.
Allen County's four fire districts were created in December 2022 in an effort to share costs and resources amid declining volunteer numbers with the township fire departments. The new districts allow shared equipment and paid full-time firefighting and EMS staff. Each district is governed by a board made up, in part, of representatives from each township in the districts.
The Allen County Council tabled the new station proposal until the district can get more information about what is the best use of public funds through a process called scoping. Scoping is where a third party does a study that, in this case, determines whether building a new station or renovating the current stations is the best use of funds.
In this instance, the process requires an agreement between the West Central Fire District and the third party that would conduct the study. That agreement would determine the parameters of the study and how much it would cost.
Perez said the $700,000 the West Central Fire District board set aside Monday will operate like a rainy day fund.
“The cost of that scoping is rolled into the cost of the project,” Perez said. “So, the only way that we would pay for that scoping separate on its own is if we do not get approved to do either build or renovate.”
District officials still need to put together the scoping agreement. Perez said they hope the scoping and construction processes will all take no more than two years total.
