DeKalb County emergency officials stuck in an indefinite holding pattern as they wait for Washington D.C. to sign off on a new multi-agency public safety building.
DeKalb County Fire Chief Donny Green said local administrators completed the design phase for the Wolf Creek community. Conceptual drawings also submitted for the project adjacent to Center Hill Lake.
“We have had quite a few challenges in getting this approved,” Green said. “At one point, we thought we were almost there and ready to proceed with construction and then we were told that the higher up in headquarters in Washington D.C., there were some legal issues there. And that’s kinda where we’re at right now.”
Green said the proposed arrangement requires the county to construct the facility on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property near Center Hill Dam. Despite turning the building title over to the federal government upon completion, the county would remain responsible for subsequent insurance, utilities, and general upkeep to resolve a critical protection deficit in the Wolf Creek community.
“Homeowners are faced with a lower level protection on their homeowners insurance if they’re not within five miles of a fire station and that’s an area of our county that we have a deficit in,” Green said. “So the county has been working on this project for a few years trying to get a fire engine over there.”
Green said federal rules mandate that the two-bay facility be designed for multi-agency use by TWRA, State Parks, the Sheriff’s Department, and the local rescue squad for Caney Fork River water rescues. The county originally secured a $250,000 construction estimate in 2022, but leaders are prepared to reallocate those long-held funds to other infrastructure needs if the federal gridlock cannot be broken.
“If we can get an agreement, the county, I believe is poised to add more money to that,” Green said. “But at the same time, if we’ve hit a wall here and we’re not going to be able to go further, the county’s probably going to look at re-obligating that money to other projects that the county has going on. So we certainly want to be optimistic and hoping that this continues to move forward, but we are kind of in a holding pattern right now and hopefully we can see some movement here soon with the Corp of Engineers.”
Green said physical construction will take approximately six to eight months to complete once federal authorities officially sign off on the partnership agreement.