New Roseboro fire station coming due to $4M in funding

After years of effort, it was announced that $4 million in funding to construct a new Roseboro Fire Department was secured, a major accomplishment that was officially announced during the town board’s recent meeting.

The funding for the new fire department comes in the amount of $4 million, which was provided through a State Direct Grant from the legislature.

According to NC Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), the North Carolina state budget may include legislatively-directed grants to non-state entities. These grants provide a specific amount of state funds to be directed to a named organization for a purpose described in the appropriations act in which the grant was included.

It is funding that Butler noted they were able to acquire thanks to the diligent work and faith put in by all parties involved.

”What happened was, I wrote letters and sent pictures and let them know why we needed this which was because of the current state of our fire department,” Butler said. “The building was built in 1936, the bays were built in 1970, and they have a lot of issues with that.”

The mayor credited those who worked at the state and local level to see the funds received.

“Back in October, we were told that we had been awarded the money for the fire department through the Legislature,” Mayor Alice Butler said. “Representative William Brisson and Senator Brent Jackson, both worked hard, we went back and forth with them a lot explaining why we needed this and we have worked to reach this point.”

“I would very much like to include Fire Chief Lee Coleman because he helped every step of the way too, as far as getting information to me,” she added. “He has been quite involved in this process also.”

Butler also mentioned that finally receiving the funds to build a new fire department marks the completion of a goal they’ve been having difficulty fulfilling for more than 20 years.

“We have tried multiple ways to get this funding and it’s just been very hard, to be honest, to get grant funding for our fire department,” she said. “I even noticed in the files when I was going through them for something else; back in 2001 we were talking about getting a new fire department. I mean, this has been going on for a long time, so it’s wonderful to know that, finally, we have this.”

As part of this announcement, the board also unanimously voted to approve the $4 million contract for building the fire department. The contract in question has an end of construction date set for Oct. 3, 2025.

Butler would go into further details about the contract during the meeting.

“The contract basically says — and I’m just gonna put it out there like it is — that it started July 1, which we know didn’t, but that’s when the legislative session started, so that’s the date they have to put,” Butler clarified. “They have an end date of Oct. 3, 2025, that’s really pushing us to get that done, big time. So with that in mind, we’ve decided to go with what’s called a design-build contract, which means the same company will be the architect that will also build the building.”

“This is new, well new as of 10 years ago; in 2013 the legislature started allowing this kind of contracting, and so that’s what we’re going to go with,” she said. “I have talked with them at the Office of State Budget and Management and they assured me, if we are in the process of this, we just need to keep them updated on all of this, all the time. It’s not going to be totally complete by the Oct. 3 deadline, so we’ve got to just be in constant contact with them.”

Now that it’s all been approved, Butler expressed her excitement.

“I didn’t feel like it was an official announcement until we actually had that contract in hand from the Office of State Budget (and) Management,” she said with chuckle. “So now, we actually got the contract this past week from the (OSBM) for me to sign, so that’s just really exciting.”

The fire department itself will be located at the corner of Johnson Street and West Martin Luther King Boulevard, where the old Horne Brothers Construction used to be. That space was acquired after the land was donated to the town last year from members of the Koenig family. The town subsequently voted to purchase an adjoining property to expand the space the new fire department’s footprint.

“That made the lot bigger, but we were very fortunate that a family asked if we would be interested in them donating the land,” Butler said. “We actually did an environmental study on it, to make sure everything was good. When that passed, we told them, absolutely, we were thrilled and that’s where we would be putting the fire department once we were able to obtain funds for that.”

Butler also brought town officials up to speed during Tuesday’s meeting.

”You can see the where we plan on putting the fire department and I did want to kind of get a nod there from you all because that’s what we’ve discussed,” she said. “That it would be both what we’ve just purchased and what was given to the town, that the fire department would be there, so we’re planning the RFQ (Request for Qualification).”

As this project is dedicated to the fire department, Butler wanted to honor some of the many firefighters who serve the town.

”I want to recognize the firemen that are here and Commissioner Ray Clark who is a retired fireman,” she said. “The ones here are just a portion of them and I thank you all for coming. This effort is for you guys — you deserve it, between all of you, you’ve been on multiple fires.”

”I don’t know how many of you know, but we’ve had at least four fires in the last month,” she said. “It started with the rescue building, then we had the fire over at the laundromat; we had those double wides that burned; we had 17 cars that burned at one time; and there was the house on McLamb Street. There’s been a lot of fires, I hate to say it, within this town. There has just been various reasons and you guys are always there and so, this moment, it’s just so important. All of this is really for you guys.”

As for how the actually members of the fire department felt about all the news and construction coming their way, Fire Chief Lee Coleman shared his thoughts on behalf of the fire department.

“I’m really excited about our future,” he said. “This gives us hope moving forward and I’m excited for our members, both the one’s that’ve stuck with us and our new members. This gives us something to look forward to because we’ve been in the same station for a long time, the original station from 1936. I remember when I was coming down here back in the 80s you could fit eight fire trucks in here, now you can only fit four, so we’ve definitely outgrown the station.”

“My members like to come down here to socialize, cook and hang out, but we can’t even cook in here because we don’t have an adequate kitchen or space,” Coleman added. “So this is gonna give us time we can come together and do things together as a department and just spend more time together.”

Coleman also highlighted some of what he’s excited about, and what that future will entail for the new and improved Roseboro Fire Department.

“Not only are we getting a new station now, but we’re getting a new truck, which should be here in March; we’ve not gotten a new truck since 2008,” he said. “We’re also going to be taking over rescue services, which is a new service we’re going to be providing and that’s coming up in the near future.”

“We’ve got a lot to look forward to in the coming year or two, so there’s a lot of responsibility,” Coleman said. “But, I think our guys that are on now are looking forward to that responsibility. They’re stepping up to the plate and they’re willing to do the training that it takes. They’re ready to get in this new station and do what they need to do to provide the services that we need to provide for the citizens.“