January 6, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
County Mayor Matt Adcock has called for a special meeting of the DeKalb County Commission Monday night, January 9. Apparently, the only item on the agenda is to approve the lease agreement for the property owned by the towns of Liberty and Dowelltown for the construction of a new fire hall. The meeting will be at 6:15 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multi-Purpose Center of the County Complex.
Both the Liberty and Dowelltown Boards of Mayor and Aldermen met and approved this lease agreement with the county earlier this week.
“After consulting with (County Attorney) Hilton (Conger) about the lease agreement for the Liberty Fire Station project, we have agreed that we need to make a special call meeting just for the purpose of approving the lease agreement with the towns of Liberty and Dowelltown,” said County Mayor Adcock. “ Both of the towns have agreed to the terms of the lease and the lease has been signed and notarized by both municipalities. We just have to have the County Commission vote to agree on these terms as well. We are calling a special call meeting because time is of the essence with signing the contract with our contractor. This project is time sensitive and we would like construction to begin as soon as possible. The agreement is for the entire acreage of the parcel which is 8 acres more or less. The length of this term is 99 years for the price of $1. If anyone has any questions, reach out to me at any time,” said County Mayor Adcock.
Although the county commission has already allocated $382,912 in ARP funding for the project, it must act on the lease agreement the same as Liberty and Dowelltown.
The new fire hall is expected to improve firefighting and EMS services in the western portion of the county. Under the plan the current Liberty Fire Hall located in downtown Liberty will be replaced by the new Liberty/Dowelltown Fire Hall and the new station will house a fire engine and a tanker truck. The fire hall could also serve as an EMS satellite station subject to the wishes of the county commission.