The Bulloch County government is in the process this week of buying a house and almost 3-acre lot off Georgia Highway 67 out past the Fairgrounds to turn into a firehouse. In addition to an $850,000 purchase contract for that property, county commissioners last week approved a $175,965 “emergency” contract for construction of a steel building for fire engine bays at the site.

Commissioners voted on these items to provide another 24-hour station for the expanding Bulloch County Fire Department during a specially called Thursday, April 17, meeting. The BCFD, previously with 30 career firefighters, is well along in the process of hiring 37 more, as previously authorized by the Board of Commissioners, and has taken  delivery of some new fire engines and a used but newly outfitted 100-foot ladder truck. All are preparations for the county Fire Department’s takeover of responsibility for the five-mile district extending outside Statesboro’s city limits from the Statesboro Fire Department on July 1.

The county’s purchase contract for the house and land at 494 Elmer Phillips Rd. named R&R 529 LLC as the seller. That limited liability company’s state registration shows Jason Williams as its registered agent, and Williams, a local real estate agent and land investor, was also named in the contract as the seller’s broker. The most recent owner listed on the county Board of Assessors database for this property was William Davidson.

County Attorney Jeff Akins explained the situation as of last Thursday, April 17.

“The seller that we contracted with actually does  not own the property at this time, but he has a contract to purchase it from the current  owner,” Akins told commissioners.  “So we contracted with him to sell it to the county after his purchase is complete.”

Because the county’s contract named this Thursday,  April 24, as closing date, the seller was concerned whether he could meet that, so a special stipulation was added, stating “that this contract is contingent on R&R 529 closing on said property prior to this closing date of 4-24-25,” Akins said.

That was the form of the contract, also containing the $850,000 purchase price to be paid  by the county, that  commissioners approved in a 6-0 vote on a resolution.

Interim County Manager Randy Tillman, who is also Public Safety Division director, and Fire Chief Ben Tapley both spoke about the suitability of the property before commissioners’ motion and vote.

“This satisfies the current need for a fire station and also fits in the footprint almost perfectly for future expansions out into the county,” Tillman said.

Although the address is on Elmer Phillips Road, which parallels Georgia Highway 67, the 2.89-acre lot is a long, narrow rectangle that extends to the highway. It’s in an area of residential  development not quite a mile beyond the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fairgrounds southeastward from Statesboro.

The contract also gives the county a 10-day right of refusal for purchase of an adjoining more than 4-acre parcel that also extends  to Highway 67, but that would only come into play if the owner decides to sell it as well.

Under the contract, the seller has until May 29 to have the house and property cleared of debris or give the county a $10,000 credit from escrowed funds. The county and seller also have the option of cooperating to qualify the sale as a tax-deferred exchange with the IRS.

“When we first started talking about this, trying to get the perfect piece, we knew it had to be around Highway 67, closer to Burkhalter (Road), so we almost got that, so we’re proud of this piece of property, and the future (hope) of expanding in that area,” Tapley said.

3 stations in district

Chairman David Bennett then asked him to “talk about how this will affect fire protection in the five-mile district right now.”

Currently,  response into the district is run  by the Statesboro Fire Department out of its two existing stations, one on West Grady Street and the other at 1533 Fair Road, which Tapley noted is “south of the hospital.” Fair Road is also part of Highway 67, but the county’s pending new station site is further out.

“So  this piece is the southern part of what we need” Tapley said,  meaning that portion of what the BCFD  will need to serve the southern  part of the county district previously served by the SFD.

“The northern part is going to be handled by the engine company that’s at the EMS station … along with staffing Engine 9 there in Clito,” he said.

The Bulloch County Emergency Medical Service, or EMS, station he referred to is the Grady Street headquarters in Statesboro. By placing a fire engine there, the Bulloch County Fire Department will have a station essentially next door to the Statesboro Fire Department’s Station 1.

But the county’s new station off Highway 67 will allow the BCFD to more quickly reach west and east via Burkhalter Road and also out 67 toward Josh Deal Road and “extend actually farther into those (ISO) Class 10 areas that currently aren’t covered,” said Tapley.

The county’s recent equipment purchases allow the BCFD to place one engine each at the Clito, Grady Street and new Highway 67 stations, and Tapley said he is also looking at possibly moving the ladder truck – which upon delivery was placed at the Register station, to the Highway 67 station as well.

Brick with a metal roof, the existing house will undergo some interior renovations to provide individual sleeping rooms for staff, a small meeting  and training room and a  couple of offices,  Tillman said in a follow-up interview.

“And  then  somewhere on that property will be a two-bay metal structure that houses the actual fire apparatus,” he said.

Steel building

So the other related action by commissioners was the approval of the $175,965 contract for Hawk Construction-Smith Steel Structures to erect a 40-by-60-foot, 18-foot-tall steel building at the Highway 67 (494 Elmer Phillips Rd.) site. It will also include a concrete floor eight inches thick, two walk-in doors and four 14-by-14-foot roll-up doors with chain hoists. A letter in the commissioners’ folders stated a $152,072 price for the steel building, but noted that site work, brick work, interior framing and other items were not included.

A $175,965 contract “normally, under Georgia public works law requires procurement by a sealed bid process or a sealed request for proposal process,” Akins noted. “However, there are some exceptions to that, and one of them is when there is an emergency.”

With “emergency” defined in the law as “any situation resulting in imminent danger to the public health or safety or the loss  of an essential governmental service,” the resolution cited the possibility that the county will need  to take over fire service in the five-mile district July 1 as an emergency.

“If  so, the county needs  a fire station on this property in order to be able  to provide that service to a portion of that district, so  we’re  treating this as an emergency because the sealed-bid process or sealed proposal process, you have to advertise for four weeks … so there’s no  way we could meet the time frame to have this  in place by July 1,” Akins said.

So,  the commissioners by another 6-0 vote approved the contract on Hawk Construction’s quote without other bids. Tapley said he had  contacted one  other builder who said he was no  longer in the steel building business and another that only  provides a lighter-duty building.

Akins further noted that the Georgia General Assembly in its recent session amended the public works  law to raise the threshold of  the sealed bid requirement to $250,000, but that will not take effect until July 1.