BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Construction of a living quarters for Bradford County Fire Rescue Station 10 in Speedville will have a cost for the county after all.
Vincent Esson from the expanding Keystone Heights RV Resort pledged funding to construct the living quarters so south Bradford County could have a fully staffed station.
Bradford County Fire Rescue Chief Ben Carter told county commissioners last week, the $250,000 donation does not include work beyond five feet of the building’s perimeter, including installation of a septic tank and utility hookups for water and electricity.
Carter said the agency received $479,000 last year in managed care funds. He proposed no more than $50,000 be used to complete the Station 10 project.
This funding, received through the Public Emergency Medical Transportation program, compensates unreimbursed costs for emergency medical transport providers serving Medicaid managed care patients. Counties that share the cost of the program receive a larger distribution.
Carter was asked about using the existing septic tank installed for the tax collector’s satellite office, but he said multiple inspectors had ruled that out. He did say there were other donors supporting the project, including Gator Fire’s Brian Green, who has donated the labor and equipment for the fire suppression sprinkler system, and Mike Crews, who has donated cabinetry and counter tops.
“We’re getting a lot of that stuff donated that we can, but there are going to be some costs to finish off the project. And based on the conversations with the contractor, he believes $50,000 should be sufficient to cover the costs,” Carter said.
Carter also requested managed care funds be used to purchase a new ambulance, saying the agency only has one unit on the road with fewer than 250,000 miles.
“We average 64,000 to 65,000 miles annually per ambulance, so we’ve got to get caught up,” he said. “We’re in decent shape right now with the remounts that we’ve done, but we need to get caught up on purchasing a new ambulance.”
Remounting is how BCFE had extended the life of its fleet without purchasing new units. There is only one unit left that hasn’t been remounted and is not ready to be remounted, Carter said.
“We are at the point of remounting remounts, if that makes sense, so we need to need to put a new ambulance in the fleet,” he said. Due to the lead time, an ambulance ordered now would not be received until next year.
Carter provided a rough estimate of $300,000 to $350,000 to purchase the unit.
Funding for the ambulance and Station 10 project were approved.
Last year, Carter persuaded the commission to reinvest $300,000 of the managed care funds to support the PEMT program in exchange for receiving an even larger award this year. Last week, Carter said the managed care funds cannot be used to pay the county’s cost share after all.
If the county contributes to the cost of the PEMT program to leverage a higher future distribution, that funding will come from reserves.
Because the managed care funds are considered unanticipated revenue, they are not included in the budget until they are spent. The funds for the ambulance will be included in the 2024-25 budget.
Commercial rezonings include development near Hampton
The county commission approved multiple commercial rezonings on first reading last week.
One applicant asked to rezone the two parcels north of Red Dog Saloon for commercial intensive development. A third application for commercial rezoning at the corner of U.S. 301 and C.R. 18 west of Hampton as also approved. It was this application that received the most discussion.
An engineer spoke on behalf of the city of Hampton about a proposed site plan for that intersection just north of the dollar store. A preliminary plan shows ingress and egress to the development from both U.S. 301 and C.R. 18. Engineer Jerry Dabkowski said Hampton does not oppose the rezoning but would like to be included when the county considers the traffic impact on C.R. 18.
Kevin McCraw from Hunt Real Estate Services was also present to speak about the amendments and answer concerns. He said the county would have input during the design phase of the project once the rezoning is complete. A full traffic study will be completed per Florida Department of Transportation requirements.
Hunt Real Estate is involved in acquiring property for multiple clients, including Walgreens, Family Dollar, RaceTrac, Wawa, Circle K, Starbucks and more.
These land use and zoning amendments will be finalized if approved following the second reading.
Starke has also advertised a multi-family residential rezoning on Jackson and Cherry streets.
The city of Starke and Kingsley Development have filed applications to rezone property downtown in preparation for the CityWalk townhome development.
Democratic Women meet April 25
The Democratic Women’s Club of the Lakes Area will hold its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, April 25. The speaker will be Sierra Club board member David Vaina. All Democrats are welcome. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the speaker at 7. The club will meet at the new location, Melrose Center, 309 S.R. 26 in Melrose. For further information: 352-235-4161 or [email protected].
