The safety and well being of our citizenry depends on well-equipped and well-trained employees who are able and willing to serve and protect this community. It is my job as Mayor to make sure that we enable those public servants to do their jobs efficiently, effectively, and professionally. Keeping up our public safety infrastructure to meet the growing demands of our community is the best way to ensure that our police officers and firefighters have the resources to do their jobs and to do them well.

Last Tuesday, we broke ground on the new City of Fayetteville Fire Station #3, and construction is well underway on Station #5 on the corner of Crossover Road and Mission. In 2005 we celebrated the opening of Station #7 on Rupple Road. The addition of this station and crew was the first expansion of the fire service in the last 30 years. The Fire Department, under Chief Tony Johnson’s leadership, has their aim on three goals, and the ability to meet these goals guides the Department’s decisions on future expansion of infrastructure including facilities and equipment. Goal #1: To provide an enhanced level of emergency response services to the citizens of Fayetteville to meet the demand of a growing community. Goal #2: To assemble a safe and effective response force on the scene of a fire emergency. Goal #3: To provide enough resources in the City of Fayetteville to mitigate two moderate risk incidents simultaneously within our jurisdiction.

We are making real progress when it comes to expanding our public safety infrastructure to meet the demands caused by the high rate of growth and development in the City. Our approach to fire safety infrastructure is very forward looking, and we are also trying to be thoughtful about future energy savings as we expand this infrastructure. Station #3, scheduled to be open in the second quarter of 2008, uses a variety of green building techniques to reduce our impact on climate change, minimize energy consumption, and save tax dollars. Some of these techniques include returning paved areas to green spaces, reduced footprint of construction operations, sustainable landscaping, tight building envelope, high performance windows, use of green building materials and products, use of advanced wall framing systems, light colored roofing surface to reduce heat gain, use of BioBased foam insulation, recycled material use in countertops and carpets, low water use plumbing fixtures, geothermal heat pump HVAC system, motion sensor light switching, and many others.

In the last citizen survey, 96.4% of respondents stated that they feel safe and secure in their homes, and I would argue that the professionalism of our public safety personnel play a huge role in the level of safety and comfort our citizens feel as they go about their daily lives. Our police officers and firefighters are the best of the best, and it is our obligation to equip and train them to serve you. We’re making steady, strong progress, but there is more on the horizon for us. We have a growing demand for additional staff, equipment, and other resources. We have space needs that must be met for the police department, prosecutor, and district court. There is much yet to be done, and we will have to continue to rally the political will and courage to ensure that our public safety infrastructure keeps pace with our population growth. The health and well-being of our community depends on it.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.