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Struthers council rejects including police in new fire building
STRUTHERS
The city’s planned fire station will not be a full-blown safety-services building, at least not immediately.
Police Chief Tim Roddy sent a letter to Mayor Terry Stocker proposing a plan to evolve the planned Struthers fire station at 238 Elm St. into a combination fire and police station.
“I have spoken to former fire Chief [Gary] Mudryk as well as current Chief [Bill] Simcox about the possibilities of sharing space with both departments. Both chiefs felt that having a shared space would be ideal to each department,” Roddy wrote.
The new station will be built on land donated to the city by local businessman Dan Becker. In order to keep the land, the city had to agree to put a fire station on it within two years of it acquiring the site.
The land transfer agreement Becker made with the city specifically states a police station may be built on the site so long as a fire station is also built.
“When Mr. Becker first proposed to council the fact that he bought the property and was going to donate said property to the city for the purpose of building a fire department on it, he included the police department in his plans. He thought the idea of a Safety Forces Building was ideal for our city,” Roddy said.
Councilman Dallas Bigley, D-at large, heads council’s police and fire committee, and said council considered Roddy’s request, but the decision was ultimately made not to include the police station in the new building.
He said he had proposed including two options on the fire levy – one for the levy that includes the police station, and one for the levy that does not – but council rejected the idea out of fear it might confuse voters and doom the levy.
“I am extremely proud of the police force that we have and want the best for them. ... I am happy to say that even though they’ll be staying in their current location, I spoke to the mayor and there will be funds set aside in this year’s budget to upgrade their current police station so it is more suitable to their needs,” Bigley said.
“The fire station will also be built in a manner in which it can be expanded, so in the future there’s a possibility of adding a police station, with support of the voters,” he added.