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Jackson Paper donates land for new fire department
By Justin Goble
Sylva leaders announced last Thursday (March 2) a local company has given the town’s fire department a new home.
Jackson Paper donated around 5 acres of land across from Bryson Park to the town for the express use of building a new fire department. Town board members unanimously voted to accept the offer during Thursday’s meeting.
“I cannot say how generous that was of them,” said Mayor Brenda Oliver. “They have been good corporate neighbors.”
Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver, left, and Jackson Paper President and CEO Tim Campbell survey land that will be home to Sylva’s new fire department. Jackson Paper offered the land as a donation to the town for the new station, and officials unanimously accepted during their regular meeting last Thursday (March 2). Campbell said the company donated the land to make the community safer. “We have a large number of employees who are volunteer (fire fighters),” he said. “We let them leave if there is a call. So it obviously helps if they’re close to their equipment while they’re at work.” Need for a new fire department was brought up by Fire Chief Mike Beck during a recent public safety committee meeting when he said the department had outgrown its current facilities. Now that the land has been secured, officials will seek funds to construct the new station. –Herald photo by Justin Goble.
Sylva Fire Chief Mike Beck said he was happy with the news since that brought the town one step closer to a new department. Now that they have the land, he said the biggest concern was funding.
“We gave thanks profusely to the paper plant when they told us the news,” Beck said. “That saves us about half the cost we were talking about spending on the new department. Now we have to try and fund the construction. We’re trying to come up with fund-raisers and such.”
Jackson Paper President and CEO Tim Campbell said the company was proud to donate the land, because helping the fire department helps the whole community.
“It’s nice having a fire department across the street, because we have a fire risk with the old logs we have,” he said. “Mike Beck has been a long-time employee of the plant. We also have a large number of employees that are volunteers. We let them leave if there is a call. So it obviously helps if they’re close to their equipment while they’re at work.”
Campbell credits Jeff Murphy, vice president and chief financial officer at Jackson Paper, as the catalyst for deciding to donate the land.
“He saw in (The Sylva Herald) that the community was looking for a location,” Campbell said. “He looked at the land we had and saw we had no intention of selling it or using it. He thought it would be a good solution for the town and would be a good place for a fire department.”
While surveying the land with Campbell Tuesday afternoon, Oliver expressed her appreciation for the gift.
“I think this is a gift from heaven,” she said. “We explored the possibility of a new fire station, but it became cost-prohibitive when we began to factor in the land and the building. This site is wonderful because site preparation is at a minimum. We’re optimistic that with fund-raising, grants and help from the county we will have a new fire station in the near future.”
Need for a new fire department was most recently brought up at a Jan. 31 public safety meeting when Beck told committee members the current station, in operation since 1980 without renovation, is inadequate to meet the growth in truck fleet, department membership and call volume.
Though remodeling and expansion was an option, Beck said it would be difficult because of the land the department sits on.
“We can’t do much on the current site,” Beck said. “We had a core-drill done, and most of that land is rock. It takes a lot of money to do things on rock. But real estate in town is expensive too.”
In other business March 2:
– Board members voted unanimously to join the partnership for working towards inclusive communities.
By joining this partnership, the town will work to involve people of all races and culture in town government and activities.
Oliver brought up concerns about discrimination in the town at the board’s annual retreat on Feb. 18. She said then that racism and discrimination was an issue, though many people did not realize it.
“We do have a problem,” Oliver said. “We do have to deal with racism and other aspects in the community.”
Working with Bridges to Community, Oliver said she has seen the diversity within Sylva’s population increase, yet very few minorities participate in government.
“We’ve changed as a town,” Oliver said. “I would like to acknowledge those changes and include different people in town government.”
–Town Manager Jay Denton reported that three contractors had shown interest in the Mill Street project at a pre-bid meeting.
Bids for the project open today (Thursday).
– Police Chief Jeff Jamison said work had been done to the police department to protect those on staff.
“We recently completed security renovations,” Jamison said. “We put up a security door. If we are out on call, Amanda (Parker, police clerk) is there by herself to deal with whoever may come in.”
Jamison thanked Public Works Director Dan Schaeffer and his crew for completing most of the work.
– Oliver took an opportunity to publicly congratulate local athletes for their recent accomplishments.
She offered her congratulations to the Smoky Mountain Lady Mustangs for winning the West 2-A Section 3 basketball championship. She also applauded Smoky Mountain wrestler George Neslen for finishing fourth in the state 1-A/2-A Wrestling Meet.
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