Is Marlow VFD prepping to expand?
Marlow Volunteer Fire Department is getting ready to make needed repairs. And those repairs aren’t cheap.
“This is something we don’t normally get. It’s kind of rare I think,” said Anderson County Law Director Jay Yeager, referring to a recent proposal made by the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department to Anderson County Commission to buy land from the county.
The MVFD is proposing to buy from the county two parcels of land, acreage on Dutch Valley Road and Oliver Springs Highway.
According to Anderson County Commissioner Theresa Scott (Dist. 7), who serves on the County Fire Commission, MVFD is having to pay for the upkeep of a fire station building on at least one parcel of land, the one in Dutch Valley, and because MVFD continues to funnel money into the building’s maintenance it would make sense for them to own the land their station sits on.
“It’s my understanding that the reason they’re looking to make the request and/or offer is because they need a new roof on the main fire station and it is going to cost an exorbitant amount of money for them to have a new roof put on there. If they’re going to have to continue upkeep of the building itself it would insurance purposes,” said Scott to Commissioners at the Commission meeting in May when the request was first presented to Commissioners by Yeager, who MVFD had contacted about the request.
At the May Commission meeting, Commission voted to have Yeager and Commissioner Jerry White, who serves the Marlow District, to meet with MVFD officials to discuss the proposal and bring back details of their meeting — what the fire department is wanting to pay for the properties — to Commission at the June Commission meeting.
Details of the proposal were not specified, but at the Commission meeting on June 19, Yeager presented commissioners with an update on the discussion he and White had with MVFD officials about buying the county owned land.
“We gave them a proposal. They’re taking that back to their official board to discuss it more in-depth, and will meet with White and myself sometime in the near future about that,” apprised Yeager.