Sep 29, 2018 3 min read

North Strabane Township supervisors approved a 100-year lease agreement with the township volunteer fire department for the property at the Route 19 station.

The agreement is for the township to lease the property, owned by the volunteers, and take over ownership of the building and the responsibility of maintaining it. In exchange, the township will make an annual payment of $40,000 to the volunteers, in addition to other budget contributions. In total, the township will contribute between $140,000 and $150,000 to the volunteer department each year.

Township fire Chief Mark Grimm said the township already owns all of the trucks at the station.

The agreement was drawn up because the township plans to rebuild the fire station on Route 19, which was owned by the volunteers. The new building will be big enough for the fire station, as well as the police station and District Judge Jay Weller’s office, which are both currently at the township municipal building along Route 519. The township municipal building will also be rebuilt and may include some type of recreation facility, according to township Manager Andy Walz.

The building projects will be paid for with the remaining $4 million from a $10 million bond the township floated last year, along with a new bond the township plans to secure this year that won’t exceed $16 million, Walz said. The township approved Tuesday to advertise the position of building construction project manager, who would put bids and cost estimates together and work with engineers on the project.

Another part of the building project is a new fire substation to be built on an 84-acre property in the 1000 block of Route 519 in Eighty Four, which the township purchased earlier this month for $1 million.

The new buildings and fire stations are necessary to keep up with the township’s growth, according to township officials. Grimm said the number of calls the department responds to annually is close to 2,000.

“It’s increased dramatically,” he said.

The township was recently awarded a Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Reponse (SAFER) grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the amount of $446,677 to pay for the salaries of three additional full-time firefighters.

“It’s a three-year federal grant that any career department is eligible for,” Grimm said. “We were looking to up our staffing because this is the mark we have to be at with the growth in the township. We try to apply for any grants we can, so we can save money.”

In other action Tuesday, the township scheduled a budget meeting for 6 p.m. Oct. 18, during which a draft 2019 budget will be presented to the supervisors. The supervisors will then vote at their October legislative meeting to advertise the draft budget before final approval.