A new fire station is on the way in Starkville.
The about 5,800-sqaure-foot building will be constructed at Reed Road and Highway 25 South.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen Tuesday authorized Mayor Parker Wiseman to execute a $937,327 Community Development Block Grant, which will cover most of the cost of the project, Starkville Fire Department Chief Rodger Mann said. Insurance rebate money, which the Fire Department receives each year, will be used to pay for the land, he said.
“The bottom line is it should cost the city no money,” Mann said.
Mann doesn”t expect the new station to be complete and ready for operation until late 2010, at the earliest. But when complete, it will look “exactly” like Fire Station No. 4, located at South Montgomery Street and Academy Road, Mann said.
After the meeting, Mann said the new station will greatly benefit citizens of the city.
“It”s time to be excited for Starkville because this is something we”ve been trying for a long time,” Mann said. “It”s going to enhance protection for the citizens that are in the northwest part of Starkville and hopefully, in time, it”s going to encourage development in that part of the city.”
The city”s share of CDBG funds came out of $8 million received by the state. Phyllis Benson, of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, was instrumental in writing the CDBG request and getting the city its share of the funds.
“This grant wouldn”t have happened if not for the work that she”s done,” Mann said of Benson.
In other city business, aldermen instituted a hiring freeze, effective until Dec. 31, for nearly a half-dozen city departments. The Starkville Police Department, the water and landscape division of the Public Services Department, the Electric Department, the Street Department and the Fire Department can”t hire any new employees to fill vacant positions until the end of the year.
The move will create a surplus that is needed to fill a roughly $408,000 tax revenue “gap,” Wiseman said. The surplus can be moved into the general fund, City Clerk Markeeta Outlaw said.
Aldermen Tuesday also agreed to a contract with Starkville Recycling, which will begin picking up city residents” recyclables Oct. 7. The city recently received green recycling bags, in which residents can place their recyclables and leave at the curb for pickup.
As of Tuesday, 273 city households had signed up for the curbside recycling program. Residents must sign up with the city so Sanitation Department trucks know which households to target. Sanitation Department trucks will take the items to Starkville Recycling.
When signing up, residents must bring identification and proof of residence, like a utility bill.
But the curbside pickup program is only offered for households that receive curbside garbage pickup. Residents who live in apartment complexes, for example, aren”t eligible for curbside recycling pickup.
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