Photo Provided
This tile block structure, built in the 1800s at Barrister and Jefferson streets in Belmont, remains at the core of the village’s current firehouse. The volunteer department finally has the necessary funding to replace the structure.
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Photo Provided
This tile block structure, built in the 1800s at Barrister and Jefferson streets in Belmont, remains at the core of the village’s current firehouse. The volunteer department finally has the necessary funding to replace the structure.
BELMONT — Fire protection in the village of Belmont is about to take a step toward the future, now that two state legislators secured a combined $1 million to help build a modern firehouse.
In early 2023, then-congressman Bill Johnson sent a spokeswoman to the village to deliver a $3.4 million Congressional Directed Spending Grant in support of the project. The Republican had introduced the effort in the U.S. House of Representatives, and then U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, guided it through the Senate to its ultimate approval.
Village officials initially believed they had all the funding they needed, since the project cost was estimated at $3.4 million; however, they soon learned that “no federal project is fully funded,” Fire Chief Bob Mills said. It turned out that the village needed to provide more than $1 million in matching funds.
On Tuesday, Assistant Chief Jake Tacosik and firefighter Ed Tacosik were pleased to inform council members that the volunteer department has now been awarded $1 million as part of Ohio’s Capital Budget Bill, which includes a total of $3.5 billion in appropriations for mental health care facilities; new, smaller juvenile correctional facilities; strengthening higher education infrastructure, cybersecurity, and workforce readiness; construction and renovation of schools, colleges and universities; construction and renovation of local jails; public safety; firefighter training facilities; state parks; and the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds.
“This capital budget is all about creating jobs, growing our economy, and directly impacting the people of Ohio where they live and work,” Gov. Mike DeWine said as he signed the bill on June 28.
Ed Tacosik told council that $500,000 had been directed to the department by Ohio Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, while the other half had been appropriated by state Sen. Brian Chavez, R-Athens. Now that the necessary funding is in place, he said the department “has shovels ready to go.”
The news brought a round of applause from council members. Tacosik stressed that credit for successfully obtaining the funding should go to Mills and Fire Capt. Kaye Hall, but the assistant chief said his uncle deserves Kudos as well.
Council also voted to direct Solicitor T.J. Schultz to draft an ordinance and letter stating that the fire department is a public entity owned by the village. Those steps are necessary for all of the funding to become available.
Mills on Friday said that Jones was a big supporter of the project from its very beginning, but since Chavez was appointed in December to replace outgoing Republican Frank Hoagland, he was not as familiar with the effort. So Mills, Hall and Ed Tacosik arranged to meet with him and present him with the facts. He agreed to help secure the last $500,000 to ensure the department could finish the project.
“Without this, we would be dead in the water,” Mills said of the state funds.
Now, Mills and other department officials will meet with their architect on Friday. A meeting with a U.S. Department of Agriculture architect will be required as well. At that point, the project can go out to bid, and the results of that project will determine exactly what the department can afford to build.
Original plans call for the building to feature four double bays that can accommodate two trucks apiece with entry and exit in a drive-through fashion. That section would be of block and metal construction. The L-shaped building will include a “stick-built” section off to the side of the bays where sleeping quarters, a kitchen and more can be housed.
And while it will be moving into a much more modern facility, the VFD won’t be moving far — its new 3-acre plot of land is situated just a short distance away on the opposite side of Barrister Street from the current station.
The current building, which has a core structure that dates to the late 1800s with an east wall that is failing, would remain under the ownership of the village. Mayor Ron Woods has said he hopes its structural issues can be addressed so that it can be used for equipment storage and other purposes.
