Gentry Fire Department purchases recommended

New animal shelter proposed by Gentry mayor

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

— The fire department committee will recommend to the full council that the city use the balance of a SWEPCO gift to purchase a new pickup truck, an LED sign and a used lawn mower and leaf vacuum for the fire department.

With approximately $37,000 left after using part of the money given to the city for the fire department to pay off the note on the fire station addition, Gentry Mayor Kevin Johnston and Gentry Fire Chief Vester Cripps outlined items on the department’s needs list forcommittee members on Monday evening.

The city’s fire station addition was paid off earlier this month, after American Electric Power-Southwestern Electric Power Company donated $185,000 to the city to help with expenses related to the fire department, which also provides fire protection for the Flint Creek Power Plant.

City council members voted unanimously at their February meeting to use the money to pay off the existing debt on the fire station expansion - a quarters area and additional bays for trucks - approved in 2007. By paying off the remaining balanceearly, the city will also save about $15,000 in interest, Johnston told the council.

The payoff was just under $150,000, Johnston said. The city had budgeted $165,000 for payments to pay off the five-year note by the end of 2012.

AEP-SWEPCO also recently donated an acre of land to the city on the corner of Taylor Orchard and Marion Lee Roads to be used for a future fire department substation.

Other items on the list discussed at Monday’s committee meeting included construction of fire department station threeon the corner of Taylor Orchard and Marion Lee Roads at a cost of $75,000 to $90,000; a bay expansion at station two; a west drive around the building, an east-side drive-through and parking extension and balcony at station one; a lawn mower and leaf vacuum purchase for use by part-time firefighters for city mowing and upkeep; a fence to enclose the training tower at station one; and a new pumper truck purchase in 3-5 years.

If the council approves the purchase of a new pickup truck for the department, the chief’s pickup would replace the worn-out vehicle currently used for medical calls and the chief would drive the new pickup truck for his duties. Proposed forpurchase was a new Dodge quad-cab at the state-bid price of $22,885 plus the cost of lights, radio and camper shell, bringing the total to approximately $25,000.

The proposed LED sign would be used to keep the public informed regarding public safety issues and events such as burn bans and other advisories.

The mower and leaf vacuum were proposed so that the recently-approved part-time fire fighter positions could be utilized for mowing and lawn upkeep work at the fire stations, the police station and on other city-owned properties, thus saving the city money in its lawn-mowing contract.

Suggested was the purchase of some good used equipment at considerable savings over purchasing new.

Animal Shelter needed

In a police committeemeeting, also on Monday, Johnston asked committee members to think about the possibility of rectifying the problems with the crowded and inadequate city pound facility by erecting a new animal shelter with sufficient space to meet the city’s needs for years to come and in a more accessible location to promote animal adoption.

Johnston suggested a new 120-foot-long steel building on a concrete pad with adequate space for 15 animal stalls (6 feet by 10 feet) and animal doors to an outside pen area. He suggested a perimeter fence to keep animals from escaping when exercised or shown for adoption. He said the animal holding area could meet the city’s need for years to come because each holding area would be big enough for several dogs, depending on the animals’ size.

He also said the facilitywould be big enough to set aside a space for cats if the need arose.

Committee members agreed that a plan should be prepared and cost estimates gathered for council consideration. Johnston said he thought an adequate facility could be built for $100,000 or less.

Other items discussed as future needs of the police department included improvements at the city-owned police shooting range (increasing the size of the berm and adding some lighting), an upgraded phone system at the police department, sending some part-time officers to the police academy, upgrading dash camera systems in patrol cars, a patrol tracking system to make sure officers are providing adequate patrol to all portions of the city, and moving forward with planning for a new police station in the future.

News, Pages 1 on 02/22/2012