The county is moving to obtain a Community Development Block Grant totaling $315,000 for constructing a new EMS station/ fire hall by Warren County Memorial Airport.
Financial Management Committee and Budget and Finance Committee members met Thursday to consider the measure. Both committees unanimously approved applying for the grant. Commissioner Michael Martin was absent.
Budget and Finance Committee chairman Terry Bell says the grant is going through Centertown with Warren County offering the match for the grant if it is obtained.
“This is a grant for an ambulance and fire station at the airport,” said Bell. “Actually, the town of Centertown is applying for it. Our part will be $10,000 if they need it.”
According to County Executive Herschel Wells, Financial Management Committee chairman, the grant is for $315,000 and pays 97 percent with a 3 percent match of approximately $10,000. His committee met just prior to Budget and Finance.
Consideration for a new EMS station/ fire hall at the airport began in December. The last time the county considered building a new EMS station was in 2013 in Rock Island with a property owner offering a parcel of land for $1.
After consideration, commissioners opted to hold off due to the cost of construction being a minimum of $250,000, which did not include the annual cost of personnel estimated to be $250,000 in the first year, or the cost to purchase a new ambulance, an additional $100,000.
If the grant is obtained and the building constructed, it will be built on existing county property.
Consideration will be given to relocating the ambulance currently being housed at the city’s Fire Station 2, if commissioners determine the county cannot afford a new ambulance and additional personnel.
The measure to apply for the grant will be sent to the full Warren County Commission for its consideration.