Union County Judge Mike Loftin was authorized to apply for a grant on behalf of the Mount Holly Volunteer Fire Department yesterday at a regular meeting of the Union County Quorum Court.
The Mount Holly VFD, which serves the Mount Holly, Marysville and Silver Hill communities, has been the recipient of several rural community grants from the state in recent years.
In May, they received a $15,000 grant at the annual Arkansas Rural Development Conference, which has gone toward new personal protective equipment — the suits firefighters wear in the field — giving the department its first set of new gear in its almost 20-year history.
VFD Chief Steve Rose said he will submit the actual grant application to the Arkansas Rural Community Grant Program and Loftin and the Quorum Court will administer the funds.
The application will be for $15,000 to go toward renovating a training center that will also act as a community center for Mount Holly residents. The VFD will match the grant with funds provided by the Act 833 Fire Protection Services Program, giving them $30,000 in total if their grant application is approved.
“I have to be authorized by the county to submit the grant application,” Rose said. “I talked to them about it a while back and then I talked to them again about it last week and finished up all the paperwork they had to have and had it in their hands late yesterday (Wednesday).”
Members of American Legion Post 303 donated the building to be used as the training center, known locally as the Mount Holly Legion Hut, with the VFD taking ownership around February, Rose said. With membership in steep decline in recent years, it was no longer financially feasible for the Legion to keep the Hut open.
“I did tell them, though, that they can continue to use the building to hold their meetings,” Rose said. “It’s the least we can do after what they’ve done for us.”
The Legion Hut needs extensive repairs and renovations. Rose said he would probably end up splitting the upgrades into two phases, with the first phase being covered by the $30,000 the VFD will have if their grant application is accepted.
The first phase of updating would focus on the building’s immediate needs, including roof, ceiling and window replacements, re-wiring the building’s electrical systems and, if there are funds remaining, adding a new air conditioning system.
“The current building has, I’m going to guess, about 100 amp circuit coming in there and when you start adding – I’m going to try to put some kind of air conditioning system in there other than the two window units [we have now], one at either end of the building (and the heat is two Dearborn heaters at either end of the building) – and that’s for 2,200 square feet,” Rose said, adding the current electrical set up is not sufficient to run new appliances or building-wide systems. “There’s no light switches in the building. It’s wired directly to the breaker.”
Rose said he plans to replace the current roof with metal shingles. The ceiling inside is made of polystyrene foam panels that open directly to the building’s attic; in past years, wasps have eaten through the foam, so Rose intends to replace the ceiling and add a layer of insulation.
The second phase would focus on renovating some rooms of the Hut. Rose said he would like to remodel the bathrooms at the Legion Hut to make them ADA (Americans with Disability Act)-accessible so that disabled visitors may feel more welcome. The kitchen will also be completely gutted, he said.
“It’s all going to have to be redone. The cabinets in there – it only has lower cabinets – they saw better days probably 30 years ago,” Rose said.
Rose said he hopes to have received bids for each project by the end of next week. The grant application is due Aug. 8, giving him about two-and-a-half weeks to select bidders and determine how much work $30,000 can pay for.
Rose said it typically takes a couple of months for the state to process and accept or deny grant applications. He plans to wait to begin using the Hut for training until he has remodeled the bathrooms, he said.
The building will also be available for the public to use once renovations are complete, he said. In its current state, the cost to rent the Hut is $75 per day; Rose said that rate may go up once his renovations are complete, but only enough to keep the utilities on.
“We’ve got them putting this much money into it, it may go up a little bit to help defray any maintenance costs or anything else that comes up,” he said.
Training sessions will be open to firefighters throughout the region. In the past, firefighters have traveled from as far as Clark County to participate.
“I find that if we have too many classes too close together, your participation drops,” Rose said, explaining that training sessions will not take place more than monthly at the most. “I’m trying to get this done so I’ve got a place a little closer to the house to not only train our people, but also anybody else.”
The Mount Holly VFD is still looking for help with the community/training center. Rose said anyone interested in volunteering their time or giving a monetary donation should contact him at 870-918-3877.
“It’s served its purpose, but now that we’ve gotten ahold of it, we want to update it a little bit,” Rose concluded.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].