New fire station, park in proposed sales tax plan

If voters approve a proposed sales tax, the Centerville Fire Department would get a new station.

The special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST, includes $2 million for a new fire station. It would be built adjacent to the current station just off North Houston Lake Boulevard, on the lot that the police department used to occupy. The station is the largest item in Centerville’s portion of the tax, which will be voted on March 21.

Although the current station opened in 2004, Mayor John Harley and Fire Chief Jason Jones said a lot has changed since then. At that time, the station relied on volunteers, with just two firefighters on duty at a time. Today the department is full time, with four firefighters per shift around the clock and three administrative employees during regular work hours.

“It was built for the time,” Jones said. “It wasn’t built for any future expansion. ... Where we are at we are already limited with any more space. We are already cramped as it is.”

Also, a new station would provide room for a new fire truck. Jones said the department has only two operating trucks, and both respond to calls. The oldest is a 1988 model. The department does not have a backup truck, which Jones said it needs. If it got a new truck, the 1988 truck would be the backup.

The hope is to get a ladder truck, which the city does not have. Centerville has three-story apartment buildings, and if there is a fire in one of those buildings, the city would need to get Warner Robins to respond with its ladder truck.

Jones said the department has good relations with Warner Robins and there has been no problem getting a ladder truck when needed, but he thinks Centerville should have its own truck. There could come a time, he said, when Warner Robins’ truck is tied up when Centerville needs it.

“We want to be able to stand on our own.”

He also noted that if Centerville had its own ladder truck, it would be able to help Warner Robins if needed.

A ladder truck provides a way to quickly extend a ladder attached to the truck to reach high places. Using a separate manual ladder to reach three stories up is unwieldy and takes too much time, Jones said. A ladder truck also allows for spraying water from a higher point.

The current station was built adjacent to an old brick house that serves as the fire department’s offices and living quarters.

Another significant project for Centerville that would be funded by the tax is a new park to be located at the northeast quadrant of North Houston Lake Boulevard and East Church Street. Harley said the city owns about eight acres there and hopes to get another seven for a total of 15 acres for the park. Plans include a splash pad, a walking path, a dog park, a playground area and a children’s fishing pond.

The city has $800,000 designated for recreation in the sales tax initiative, and it is getting another $1 million in recreation funds out of the countywide portion of the tax. Harley said he expects most of that would go toward the development alone. Leveling out the land for the park alone is expected to cost about $1 million.

Harley said a countywide project that would directly benefit Centerville is the widening of Wilson Drive from Houston Lake Boulevard to Collins Avenue. It would be widened from two lanes to three, with a center turn lane. Wilson Drive runs into Elberta Road, and the same project would widen Elberta from Collins to Carl Vinson Parkway. The total estimated cost of the two sections is $4 million.

Centerville’s direct portion of the SPLOST is $4 million. The tax is estimated to bring in a total of $145 million over six years, starting Oct. 1, 2018. Officials say they are calling for a referendum on the tax now to allow for planning of projects to be funded, should it pass.

For a complete list of SPLOST projects, go to the county’s website www.houstoncountyga.org and click on “SPLOST” under the “Commissioner” tab at the top.

This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 10:31 AM with the headline "New fire station, park in proposed sales tax plan."