Small Town News

Will liquid assets be frozen this winter?

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It's been a struggle, but it looks like the Council Rural Fire Department will be able to move into their new building before the snow flies.

Well, maybe. Unless snow decides to fly in October.

Recent events have increased the chances that they'll be able to get their operation, and most importantly, their vehicles into the new facility within four to six weeks.

Doing so will be quite an accomplishment for those who have worked hard, through many discouraging setbacks, to get the facility ready for occupancy.

And it should be a relief for residents of the fire district as well; the new building will provide something that the old building could not.

Heat.

So, if all goes according to plan, the fire vehicles will be tucked away in their much cozier confines and actually filled with water, unlike in recent years when they were forced to drain the vehicles to keep them from freezing, necessitating longer response times so they can be filled when a call comes in.

Things were looking grim earlier this summer when several banks passed on lending any money to the fire district. Local fire officials thought that the passing of the $25,000 override levy in May would loosen the purse strings of these lenders, but that proved not to be the case.

This left the fire district where they were at the start of the year, $225,000 short of the total they would need to pay for their half of the building they will share with the county ambulance service. And at least $150,000 shy of the bare minimum amount needed to get the heat running and the building occupiable.

"The move was held up because we didn't get the bank loan we thought we would," said Fire Chief Shawn Stanford. "We didn't really have a backup plan."

So they scrambled and found a backup solution.

In September the fire district found a private party to lend them $100,000 and electrical work will commence immediately.

They will still need to get sheetrock hung before they can move in, and they might be roughly $50,000 short of making that happen.

But at Monday's Adams County Commissioners meeting, the Board tentatively agreed to lend the fire district that amount of money, pending a review from their legal counsel.

"I think it would be in the best interest of the county to (lend them this money)," said Chairman Bill Brown. "We need to get them in there this year."

The fire district will use the extra $25,000 per year obtained in the override levy approved by district taxpayers earlier this year to pay off these loans over the period of several years.

Stanford said that the building will still be a work in progress and they'll still need to find funding in order to finish it, but if all goes according to the current plan, at least the building will be completed enough to obtain approval from the building inspector for occupancy.

"We were hoping to be moving in before winter hit, instead of as winter hits," said the fire chief said. "Bt at least it looks like we'll get in there and out of the cold this year."



Copyright 2009 The Adams County Record, Council, Idaho. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 The Adams County Record Council, Idaho. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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