Excerpts from sj-r.com:
The Springfield mayor said he envisioned ground being broken for three new stations for the Springfield Fire Department after city council members kept the allocation for their construction at $10 million during Tuesday’s special budget meeting. Council members rejected by a 9-1 vote an amendment that would have proposed the construction of two firehouses.
A $6.2 million appropriation for the purchase of six engines and a truck for the SFD passed with no discussion. The equipment issue engendered a lot of discussion over the last several weeks, though it wasn’t originally in the budget.
With one engine and one truck still not arrived from the FY22 budget, the fire department will have nine new rigs within the next year. It addresses a major problem: 13 of the rigs are 15 years or older, with eight of them 20 years or older. Industry best practices, a report on the department issued by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Public Safety Management, LLC, suggest equipment should be replaced after 15 years.
Plans call for Station 6 to move from 2156 S. Ninth St. to 11th and Ash streets, the site of the former Honeywell-Hobbs. Station 8, now situated at 2051 W. Monroe St., would move to Lawrence Avenue, just west of Veterans Parkway, near a Dollar General store. A 13th station would be slotted for property the city owns right off of Woodside Road.
Earlier, the council earmarked $750,000 for SFD personnel overtime. With a new class of firefighters anticipated, it will cut down on overtime.
