Guidelines

I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :








Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Modernizing the Beulah Fire Service Part II

The Board of County Commissioners and the Beulah Volunteer Fighters, Inc., are close to reaching a deal for the purchase of the Beulah fire station and property--which is step one in a multi-year plan to modernize the Beulah Fire Service


The Escambia Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously last Thursday to pay the Beulah Volunteer Firefighters, Inc., $300,000.00 for their building and 6 acres of property on 9-Mile Road in Beulah.

These Volunteer Firefighters purchased the property and built the facility that is being acquired by the county--- and they have a long history of tremendous service to this community.

Because they are a registered non-profit corporation, the money they realize from the sale of this property and building must be used for a public purpose.  I'm not privy to what the actual plan is for these funds, but I have heard that there is a plan to establish a scholarship fund to assist future first responders who wish to pursue a career in this field.
Due to the layout of the Beulah property--the addition to the current 
facility will likely be constructed behind the existing bay

The plan going forward is to modernize the truck bay, and then subsequently to add a modern addition behind the existing bay structure.  The addition will have a large and comfortable meeting space, showers/lockers, a large kitchen and bunk facilities--all of which are amenities the existing facility lacks.  Additionally, I am working to ensure that this station will in the very near future have a ladder/bucket truck so that any emergency at the new Navy Federal Credit Union campus can be addressed by the Beulah fire department.

I have been told the Beulah Firefighters had a meeting last night and agreed to the purchase price, in principal.  The stipulations from the perspective of the firefighters, according to one individual at the meeting with whom I have spoken, are two-fold.  They want the facility modernized, and they want to ensure the facility is not moved to a different location but stays where it is currently.

I do believe we will be able to broker an agreement to move forward on this, to everyone's satisfaction, so that the growing Beulah area will have a modernized fire service, fully capable of handling any emergency in our growing area.

2 comments:

Beth Lucas said...

On the boundary survey why does it say Santa Rosa County, Florida?

Jeff Bergosh said...

I saw that as well and I don't know the answer. I do know with certainty, however, that this is the survey of the Beulah Fire Station property on 9-Mile Road in Beulah, Escambia County.