By Rosemary Winters The Salt Lake Tribune
WEST JORDAN, Utah — Black mold has shuttered one of West Jordan’s four fire stations. Now, the City Council has to decide whether to repair it or build a new one.
Fire Chief Brad Wardle closed Station 54 in June, moving firefighters from there to the department’s headquarters. He suggested the city consider putting up a new, bigger firehouse — one that eventually will be needed as West Jordan’s 102,000-plus population continues to grow — instead of renovating the 30-year-old building, which also needs a new roof.
But a new station comes with a hefty price tag at a time when the city’s budget is tight. Building a larger firehouse, which would have beds for seven firefighters instead of four, would cost $2.3 million to $3.8 million. The high end also would include a police precinct.
In contrast, repairing the existing station at 9351 S. 5595 West would run about $100,000, Assistant City Manager Tom Steele said Monday.
West Jordan’s City Council plans to discuss the proposals and pick a direction tonight.
Mayor David Newton, who has a vote on the council, wants to fix the existing station. “At this point,” he said, “we can’t afford to go the other route.”
City Councilman Kim Rolfe would prefer the whole package: a new fire station and the city’s first major police office other than its City Hall headquarters.
An expansion, he said, would improve public safety for west-end residents and drop average response times for police and fire to under four minutes.
Up to half the project’s tab could be paid for with impact fees collected from developers, Steele said. But, he noted, the city likely would need an additional fire station farther south and west, regardless, when the area near New Bingham Highway (about 8800 South) and State Road 111 (about 7200 West) developed.