Fentress County moving forward with the construction of a new EMS facility to enable the expansion of multiple county agencies while saving millions of dollars in future costs.
Fentress County Executive Jimmy Johnson said the project transitioned from a renovation of the existing 30-year-old ambulance building to a new construction project following a suggestion from the county commission. Johnson said the relocation of the ambulance service allows the Senior Center, the Human Resource Agency, and the Rescue Squad to move into or expand within the vacated space.
“But we’re just tickled to death that it’s going to be something for the future,” Johnson said. “The commission is 100% behind it and I know the ambulance service and ambulance workers are.”
Johnson said a 2018 study estimated that expanding the Senior Center alone would cost some $1.2 million, a figure that has since risen to nearly $3 million. Johnson said the county will save approximately $3.5 million in total future building costs by repurposing the current EMS facility for other departments.
“And it will also help on in 2018 they did a sample study to see what it would cost to expand the Senior Center and it was going to be about $1.2 million then, and now it’s going to be about $2.5 to $3 million to do the same work,” Johnson said. “So by moving them up there, we’ll actually save that money for the future.”
The facility will be built near the Justice Center
EMS Director Daniel Coleman said the new building will measure 60 feet wide by 180 feet long to accommodate a staff that has grown to 31 full-time and 15 part-time employees. Coleman said the current facility was built in 1997 for a staff of only 18 people and cannot house all eight ambulances currently stationed there.
“We have six bays here for our ambulances,” Coleman said. “We have seven, we have eight ambulances that stay in here at station one. So currently, I have two ambulances that sit outside at station one, so we’re looking to getting those in a building that way they can be secured and protected from the weather and the wear and tear of that.”
Coleman said the total project cost is estimated between $2.8 million and $2.9 million, with a Community Development Block Grant covering more than $980,000. Johnson said the county will secure a loan for the remaining balance and repay it using debt service funds supported by 25 percent of the county’s sales tax revenue.
“It’s actually going to save us money because if we spent the $970,000 of the CDBG grant if we did that to refurbish, then have to come back later, we’d have to replace that money in another building,” Johnson said. “So we’re by using it here, we’re actually saving $970,000 and we’re saving another $2.5 million to just make the Senior Center bigger because we’re busting out with that.”
Coleman said the new location provides faster access to US Highway 127 and Highway 52 while centralizing emergency services in one area. Coleman said the Upper Cumberland Human Resources Agency is slated to move into the administrative portion of the old building while the Fentress County Rescue Squad will utilize the bay space.
“We always want to make sure that we have enough staff and enough services on hand to respond to anybody’s emergency whether it be EMS, or fire, or law enforcement, or whatever,” Coleman said. “We want to make sure we have those services readily available that way people that’s experiencing a true emergency doesn’t have to wait to receive care that they’re needing.”
Johnson said the county is currently waiting for the completion of environmental and soil studies on the site near the fire department and 911 building.