Southwestern Community College received $3.05 million from Macon County to build a new fire safety training structure and to expand the Groves Center for a science lab.
The Macon County Board of Commissioners approved the allocation from the fund balance at its Feb. 13 meeting following a presentation by SCC President Don Tomas, Dean of Public Safety Curtis Dowdle and other SCC staff and faculty.
Dowdle told the commissioners the safety training structure was starting to deteriorate and that they “started kicking this can down the road” in 2016.
“We got a visit from SKA [Consulting] Engineering firm out of Asheville stating that the building that was then 33-34 years old was beginning to deteriorate to a manner where it was becoming unsafe to do live fires in,” Dowdle said.
Later, Dowdle said there’s one room, located on the bottom floor, that is safe to practice a burn. Deterioration disallows any training on the third floor.
A new building would be in a new, nearby spot, as the current building is in a floodplain. Dowdle also said the site is next to a rock quarry and that he’s found “bowling-ball sized rocks” near the tower, adding to the deterioration in his opinion
Dowdle explained having a fire training facility benefits local firefighters, because without it, Macon County firefighters wouldn’t have a local spot to complete their required training. The nearest fire training facilities are in Cherokee or Buncombe counties.
If firefighters can’t train, their department’s fire insurance rating drops. This makes homeowners’ insurance in that fire district more expensive or unattainable.
Dowdle said a new facility “would last beyond us” and offer new features that the current building cannot, such as heat control.
“I’m a product of Franklin High School, I’m a product of Southwestern Community College, I’m a lifelong resident of Macon County. What keeps me up at night is ‘Have we done enough training, have we done enough,’” Dowdle said.
Tomas said a new high-tech burn building can mimic different emergencies, many of which can’t be done with the current building.
Commissioner John Shearl, a retired firefighter, said he’s crawled through that training building many times and vouched for its importance.
“It’s getting harder and harder to have live burns in communities. These men and women, there’s no doubt they need to have a facility to train in, because it’s all about saving lives and saving property,” Shearl said.
Commissioner Danny Antoine asked about building costs, County Manager Derek Roland said the fire tower would be a $3.134 million cost to the county. However, Tomas said it’s now over $3.9 million and wasn’t sure where Roland got his figures from. Roland said in the 2016 state bond, they got $1.4 million for the fire tower.
The science room extension was $1.234 million on Roland’s capital improvement plan, but Tomas said it’s now around $1.5 million for total costs with a $1.1 million grant.
Altogether, Tomas said they were short $2.35 million for both projects. This didn’t include the county’s lapsed $700,000 SCC appropriation, Finance Director Lori Hall pointed out. Adding that made the total $3.05 million.
“If we don’t get that support, the only thing I can say is “thank you,” Tomas told the board. “We’ll go back to the drawing board, programs are dead, the projects are dead, and we can’t move them further down to the state to have them move forward.”
Tomas said with approval, they can move to bid within 30-45 days. Tomas said LS3P is designing the science room extension and Stewart Cooper is doing the same for the fire safety training center.
“Everything’s been approved at the state, we’re just waiting for funding,” Tomas said.
SCC leaders and the commissioners each spoke on how the fire safety training tower will benefit the young people by giving them a potential career option. Macon County Schools’ Career and Technical Program will offer a firefighter academy starting next school year.
“If we were a poor county, it’s another story, we’d have to really prioritize. Fortunately, through the grace of God, we got some money in the fund balance,” Higdon said. “One of the things I don’t like about government [is] we just don’t get anything done, we just waller it to death and put it in a committee. Like you say, it’s been going on for eight years and it’s time to either put up or shut up in my opinion.”
Antoine said as a chaplain, he sees the firefighters working and gives his “full support.”
Shearl spoke on the importance of firefighter training, saying the fire tower will be an economic driver for the county as outside organizations will come here to train.
“When that engine rolls up on a structure fire and you grab the nozzle and that hose off and go running into a burning building, whoever is behind you, you want to make sure that they’re not going to get claustrophobia. You go into that building with no idea if that building’s going to collapse, whether you’re going to find someone in there. So, these facilities, it’s the best training other than the actual fire but you don’t want to train on an actual fire,” Shearl said.
Commissioner Josh Young felt a responsible path forward would be for SCC to get an accurate number before the commissioners approved spending the money. Roland asked Tomas to give some accurate numbers.
“I would like to get the numbers right,” Roland said.
Tomas said the numbers the county previously received from SCC did not come from him, and he felt good about the numbers he was presenting.
“We know that these cost estimates are the best they can be from the architects we have received,” Tomas said, who later said this is not a construction manager at risk project.
Tomas pressured the commissioners to approve the funds that night, saying he could see further cost escalation of 4.5% to 8.5%. This led to Roland being OK with moving forward.
In response to Shearl’s question on the bids possibly coming in higher than the available funds, Tomas asked back, “You ever seen a grown man cry?” Tomas later said if the bids come in lower, the county will save that money.