McMinnville’s Safety Committee wants to explore a centralized police headquarters as part of its new safety plan for 2022.
Safety Committee Chair Zach Sutton said that this year’s strategy also includes implementing a plan for updating policies, a plan for acquisitions, and a plan for budgets.
“Our police department is located there in city hall, yet the officers have their equipment and everything over there on Bell Street,” Sutton said. “So there’s some difficulty with logistics for that. And then if there is an emergency, they have three floors they have to get down to get to their cars. So I think the police department has been looking for several years for a more centralized place.”
Sutton said that they also hope to explore getting a new fire rescue truck for the fire department. He said that the current truck is reaching 20 years old.
Sutton said that the acquisition portion of the safety plan will probably prove to be the most challenging. He said that they hope to achieve both of these goals through grants and a 2011 refund bond. Sutton said with the resources, they’re hopeful there will be no burden on the taxpayers with these expenses.
“The fire truck is estimated to cost $875,000, so that’s a very significant cost to the budget,” Sutton said. “There is an Upper Cumberland Development block grant that we’re using right now in our water department. We’re estimating that we might be able to apply for that and have approximately $400,000 go towards that firetruck because those block grants have been used in that capacity for volunteer fire departments in other counties and municipalities as well.”
Sutton said by providing emergency personnel with the necessary equipment, they can better serve the community of McMinnville.
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