By John Dobberstein, Editor
Another proposition to go before voters on Tuesday asks for a substantial investment in Broken Arrow’s public safety vehicles and facilities, an area that faces constant expense pressure as the 64-square-mile city continues to grow.
Proposition 2 totals $56 million and covers a variety of investments the city wants to make with buildings, equipment and communications. The biggest ticket is $18.4 million to purchase and equip new fire trucks, ambulances and emergency vehicles.
Concerns over the ambulance fleet is not new. In 2022, the city had some struggles keeping working ambulances on the road due to a combination of untimely breakdowns and supply chain shortages.
Another $20.4 million would pay for 2 new fire stations in Broken Arrow. The first would be Fire Station 9 on the southeast side of Broken Arrow, where housing and development pressure continues, and the relocation of Fire Station 1 from Main and Kenosha streets to the area of Aspen Avenue and Albany Street.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE:
Propositions 1, 5 and 6: Addressing Broken Arrow’s Infrastructure
Propositions 3, 4 and 7: Building Up Broken Arrow’s Parks, Community Facilities
The relocation of Fire Station 1, however, is identified as an “unnamed” project in Proposition 2, which means even if the proposition is passed the city would not be legally required to do the project. Spurgeon says the move is being considered because response times in that area have increased of late.
A third major investment would be $8.8 million worth of improvements to the Public Safety Training Center, including classroom expansion and renovation, drainage improvements and road crossing, perimeter security and outdoor firing range enhancements.
Some $4 million would be slated to improve the city’s outdoor warning system ($1 million) and for renovation and expansion of the animal shelter.
Unnamed projects on the list for Proposition 2 include self-contained breathing apparatus for the fire department ($2 million), radio communication upgrades ($1.2 million) and a public safety training center burning building ($1.2 million).
Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon said day-to-day operational vehicles and items, such as police vehicles or city trucks, uniforms, radios and other items can be purchased out of the city’s overall budget.
But costlier items, such as command vehicles, fire trucks or fire stations, would eat up most of the city’s capital budget. Ambulances alone cost up to $500,000 each and fire trucks cost can cost $800 to $1.5 million apiece.
Spurgeon says the public safety training facilities are important to ensuring first responders can handle any incident appropriately.
“We train, in some aspect, almost every single day. So making sure you have the classroom and training space to simulate live activities is very valuable when those calls do come in,” he says.
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