The Bluefield Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract with a consulting firm which will start working on finding a site and studying plans for a Bluefield public safety complex.
"This is with CTL Engineering," City Manager Cecil Marson told the board. "We interviewed five consulting firms. The selection committee came up with CTL after the interviews. Bottom line, there's been a discussion for years here about getting a new police and fire location and a new rescue squad location."
Marson said the city is working on the public safety complex in a partnership with the Bluefield Rescue Squad.
"They're going to come in and match half," Marson said. "Right now, the total for the project for the start up to do the initial phase is $99,675. And Bluefield Rescue Squad will pick up 50% of that, around $50,000; so that's $50,000 from the rescue squad and $50,000 from us. And this will start to lay the groundwork to expand and build a new police station, build a new fire station and a new rescue squad location."
Last July, the city ran a legal advertisement in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph for architectural and engineering consulting firms to aid in designing and constructing a campus that would serve the Bluefield Rescue Squad, the Bluefield Police Department and the Bluefield Fire Department.
When the advertisement was published, Marson said that both the fire department and police department both need room for expansion. Both agencies have outgrown their space at the Bluefield Municipal Building. The Bluefield Rescue Squad, which is located next door to Mitchell Stadium off Stadium Drive, can be hindered when sending ambulances out on calls during events like the Beaver-Graham Game and other sporting events.
Stadium Drive can also get backed up with traffic during events like the Holiday of Lights which opens Thanksgiving evening at Bluefield City Park.
Marson said the city has not selected a site for the public safety campus. Some sites owned by the city and others that are on private property will be considered. Property values often improve when police and fire departments are nearby. Once a plan for a public safety campus starts forming, the city can start seeking outside funding.
"What's key to all this is we want to look through the entire city, look for some investments in areas that have not had some; also make sure what we set up is responsive to the needs of the citizens here. We all know the current fire station and police station are in various states of shape," Marson said. "We can't get it started until we start the plan and this is the phase where we start to go and make this happen."
© 2024 the Bluefield Daily Telegraph (Bluefield, W.Va.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
