CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Aransas Pass officials said that now that this resident survey has been completed they feel confident moving forward on with a plan to build a brand-new fire station and to renovate the police station.
The yearly survey asked residents to answer a number of questions concerning city services including whether they'd support a new fire station and the renovation of the police department. Aransas Pass City Manager Gary Edwards said that 80 percent of people backed the idea.
"They're crowded and they have no place to put the equipment they have and the sleeping accommodations are crude at best," he said.
Edwards is talking about the one small bedroom that firefighters have to share at the fire station. Aransas Pass Fire Department Fire Chief Nathan Kelley likens the situation to being worse than jail.
"This is not enough room for this many people if it were a jail cell so it's actually too small to be a jail cell for the same amount of guys," he said.
Kelly said that the building is just too small to house all of the vehicles and equipment properly. He also showed me the artist's rendering of a new $10 million main fire station the city might build.
"Now we're trying to bring Aransas Pass up into the new technology and the new information that's out there to protect our firefighters give them a good place to stay," he said.
Aransas Pass Police Department Capt. Troy Poe said the department is also unbelievably cramped.
"We are trying to have our own training room. We are trying to have a break area where our people can go and sit down and have lunch in our facility and dedicated locker rooms, restrooms and showers," he said.
Officials said that once the fire department is moved out then its space would be absorbed by the police department as part of its expansion and renovation. The city council is expected to hear the updated details of the proposed plan next month.
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