Commissioners plan public hearing on fire department merger
By Steve Herring
Published in News on October 16, 2017 5:50 AM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday morning are expected to establish a public hearing on the proposed merger of two fire departments.
The hearing on the merger of the Antioch and Patetown fire departments would be held at 9:15 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 5, in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
The Antioch and Patetown boards of directors contacted the Wayne County Fire Marshal's Office in May expressing an interest in consolidating their departments and services.
County officials and fire department board members met in June to discuss the possibilities and the next steps for a merger between the departments.
The boards and membership of each department have approved the merger, and have met with their attorney to develop and approve a plan of merger which will be signed and implemented.
Jan. 1 is the target date for the plan to be completed.
Because of the merger, the county will need to consolidate the Antioch Fire Service District with the Patetown Fire Service District.
Tuesday's meeting will get underway with an 8 a.m. agenda briefing followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room.
In other business Tuesday, commissioners will be asked to reject all bids for the farmers' market building at the Maxwell Center. They will be asked as well to change the project specifications and rebid the project.
The farmers' market building was designed by HH Architecture as part of its contract to design the Maxwell Center.
The lowest bid was from Jackson Builders, Inc. for $746,931 -- $246,931 more than budgeted in a $500,000 grant to build it.
In a memo to commissioners, County Manager George Wood said some possible design changes have been discussed with HH Architecture and Jackson Builders to reduce the cost.
Wayne County Facilities Director Kendall Lee has reviewed the plans and come up with further changes, Wood said.
"We believe the changes we have made should keep this project below the $500,000 grant," Wood said in the memo. "Then, we can select some alternates, if there is available funding. We will have made changes to reduce the value by about a third.
"Consequently, we believe it is in the county's best interest to open this project back up to competitive bidding. It is our recommendation that you reject all the current bids, and authorize me to have the architect change the specifications and re-bid this project. This should resolve this matter and get us a satisfactory farmers' market building.
In other business Tuesday:
The board will consider a motion to select the architect for the design of a shell industrial building and four EMS stations.
Fred Fontana, Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority director, will make a presentation on the Veterans Ride Free event.
Commissioners will hold a work session to review all ongoing projects.
The latest North Carolina Association of County Commissioners' County Update Video will be shown.
Consent agenda items include applications for Elderly or Disabled Exclusion and for Disabled Veteran Exclusion and budget amendments.
Public comments will be taken at 9:05 a.m. Speakers will have four minutes to comment on the topic of their choice.