BY STACIE LETT CAIN
The Statesville City Council met in a special session Tuesday to discuss how to spend American Recovery Plan Act funds. The new fire station quickly rose to the top of the list of priorities.
“The plans for the new fire station are already in process,” City Manager Ron Smith. “We were just going to borrow the money for it. Now we have another option.”
The American Recovery Plan Act provided $1.9 trillion in federal funding to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Statesville will receive about $7.2 million.
City staff surveyed the council to find out what they believed the best use of the funds would be. Options for how to spend the money ranged from using it to avoid incurring debt for the fire station to improving the city’s infrastructure and addressing the city’s most urgent needs.
“I would like to see the money used for several different projects,” Councilman David Jones explained.
In the end, the council voted to commit the funds to the new fire station, which will be built on Wilso Lee Boulevard between Garner Bagnal Boulevard and Western Avenue. The station will replace Station 1, which is located downtown.
Council members agreed that time is of the essence.
“Everything is going up, we can’t wait,” Council woman Doris Allison said. “The more we wait the more it’s going to cost us.”
Councilman Steven Johnson was on board with committing all of funds to the fire station.
“Let’s do it one time and do it right. We do not want to be going into debt right now,” he said.
I think we are building it too far from the center of town where most of the buildings are.
I hope there was some kind of warranty on the brick crosswalks downtown. If not some of it could be used to fix them. They are sinking where traffic is going over them. It’s just a matter of time before they will become a serious problem.