By Laura London
Alamogordo Daily News
ALAMOGORDO, NM — A $900,000 bond to build a new fire station near the Charlie T. Lee Memorial Bypass is among the general obligation bonds up for voters’ approval during the special election March 10.
Maureen Schmittle, public communications manager and grant coordinator for the city of Alamogordo, said a proposed location for Station No. 8 is in the general area of PreCheck and the new USDA Forest Service building on the northwest side of town. Schmittle said the new development happening in that part of town calls for a new fire station.
“That’s an area of town in which we’re definitely growing, expanding,” Schmittle said. “There’s business out there so, you know, it’s a service that will be needed.”
Alamogordo Department of Public Safety Chief Sam Trujillo said when the city evaluated the area and its future development plans after it was annexed, they found it prudent to have a new fire station there for both commercial and residential protection.
Mayor Steve Brockett said the location would serve future development in the northern part of the city, and its location near the relief route would give the station quick response times.
City attorney Stephen Thies said the city has identified a general area where a fire station is needed, but no particular location has yet been settled upon.
“We’re not preselecting any particular site,” Thies said. “Assuming the bond passes, we’ve identified an area and then would go out for proposals for construction of that fire station.”
Thies said the city would prefer to acquire the property where the station will be built rather than lease it.
Schmittle said the proposed fire station will help the city maintain its insurance rating.
“And we have a good rating,” she said. “A few years ago, our rating got even better and fire insurance rates for our area went down. So, in order to maintain that, we have to make sure that we’re maintaining that level of service.”
Trujillo explained the Insurance Service Office in Chicago did the rating for Alamogordo. He said the ISO rating determines the rate people pay for fire insurance.
“The lower the rating, the lower the insurance rates,” Trujillo said. “And we currently have one of the lowest rates in the state. Our rating is a 4.”
Trujillo said most areas served by volunteer fire departments throughout the state have an ISO rating of about Level 10. He said the ISO takes into account various factors, including training, response time and equipment. ISO also looks at the distance the fire station is from the area it serves.
“The rating of the rest of the town will not be affected by a fire station going in on the northwest side of town,” Trujillo said. “But the northwest side of town will be affected.”
Trujillo said a preliminary evaluation of the area estimated the ISO rating would probably be a Level 9 without a fire station. With the station, he expects the rating to be the same as the rest of the community at Level 4.
“By the way, that affects both residential and commercial (properties),” Trujillo said.
Schmittle said the city has looked into several funding sources to pay for the fire station and has requested state grants.
“Although the state is probably not going to be issuing any new grants out of this legislative session because they’ve budgeted a shortfall,” Schmittle said. “So this is one option to get that funded.”
She said as long as the project happens in the near future, the $900,000 G.O. bond will cover it.
“That’s based on the estimate with today’s dollars,” Schmittle said.
Brockett said if the bond initiative passes, he would like to see the fire station be constructed as a “green” building, like the new Forest Service building and the New Mexico State University-Alamogordo nursing building.
“Because I think that if we can, you know,” Brockett said, “by doing that we’re kind of walking the talk about renewable energy initiatives that we’ve been looking at for the last year.”
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