Fire Station 80 ribbon cutting ceremony to be held on March 1
Press release from Alachua County
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Friday, March 1, 2024, at 10 a.m., the Alachua County Commission is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new Alachua County Fire Station #80 (10180 SW 24th Ave, Gainesville). The ribbon cutting is open to the public, and refreshments will be served.
The program at the event includes comments from Master of Ceremonies Alachua County Manager Michele Lieberman, Commission Chair Mary C. Alford, Fire Rescue Chief Harold Theus, and Public Works Director Ramon Gavarrete.
“A new fire station isn’t just a building – it’s a testament to our commitment to protect and serve,” said County Manager Michele Lieberman. “It ensures that help is always within reach when it’s needed most.”
The new fire station was completed in February 2024 at a total budget cost of $6,500,000. The single-story concrete masonry facility features energy-efficient equipment and sustainable design building features, with 100% backup generated power. It is an 11,500-square-foot state-of-the-art building that will last 50+ years. The Lunz Group from Lakeland provided architectural and engineering services for the project, and the D.E. Scorpio Corporation is the construction management firm.
This new fire station provides adequate space for the existing Fire Rescue crew and will enhance the service delivered to this growing area of unincorporated Alachua County. Building and opening this facility provides critical space for staff and equipment.
total budget cost of $6,500,000 – Holy smokes, that is a Big number especially for a county that has the worst roads in the state.
Dear Galt:
It is easy to explain.
The firefighters have a union.
The roads do not have a union.
Besides, $6.5 million is cheap. The BOCC is in the process of spending well over $20 million for a new dog pound to be a permanent retirement home for hundreds of unadoptable pit bull dogs for the rest of their natural lives. It’s only tax dollars, after all.
Fortunately, the County is spending a 1/4 of a billion on road projects over the ten years of the voter-approved Wild Spaces Public Places surtax.
It shouldn’t have taken special tax to do the most basic of all public service accommodations, namely fix the roads. The “Voters” are all overpaid UF employees (at least in the laughable “administrator” ranks) who don’t know the value of a dollar because they are all so overpaid for doing so little.
I’ll try again: It shouldn’t have taken a special county tax to fix the most basic accommodation of the county administratrion, namely fix the roads. The “voters” are mostly overpaid UF administrators and their student voter minions, who don’t know the value of a dollar because they are paid so much for doing so little. If this post disappears into the cloud, I will rethink my next donation to the Chronicle, which was about to happen.
Actually, Counties were never expected to pay for massive infrastructure maintenance costs with property tax. The state gives counties two tools: Gas Tax and infrastructure sales tax. Gas tax is woefully inadequate, so most counties with good maintenance programs have passed the sales tax. Alachua County voters said no to the tax three times. Fortunately, the fourth time was the charm.
“100% backup generated power.” Is that a Caterpillar or Onan (no joke, that’s the name) diesel generator that rumbles to internally combusted life and saves the day when the E-grid fails? Did the County’s climate change experts OK this? I assume “generated power” excludes batteries for backup.
I’m not sure why anyone is mad about this? Think about where the next closest fire stations are…Jonesville, Fort Clarke Blvd, City of Newberry, City of Archer, Archer Road. That’s a lot of miles to cover. Guess how many have ambulances? Three. This makes four. How many times do we see articles about the Fort Clarke Station being the busiest in the county? Don’t count on that one to respond to Diamond Sports Park when your kid has a seizure because they are probably already on a call. When it’s your family, you don’t want to be the one standing there saying “I don’t know what took them so long to get here?”. Good lawd, y’all want your cake and to eat it too. Grandma is having a heart attack in BFE between Parker Road and the City of Newberry….her chances of getting help just got faster and y’all are complaining about it.