City of Lexington ends lease agreement with rescue squad
On Monday, June 28 night, the Lexington City Council held their bi-monthly meeting. It started with a recognition of Duke Whisenant. Whisenant, who recently passed, was an active voice in Lexington helping to start Uptown Lexington, Inc., the Lexington Business Center, and a pay for performance program. He served as City Manager for 16 years and retired in 2002. For his 16 years of service, the council honored him with a 16 second moment of silence.
Following this acknowledgment, the city’s finance department was recognized for their certificate of achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. They have received this award for 29 consecutive years. This year, only 3,159 entities received this award out of 90,000.
The majority of the meeting was spent discussing the potential termination of the lease agreement with the Davidson County Rescue Squad at the old fire station on Cotton Grove Rd. The Lexington Fire Department (LFD) proposed paying the Davidson County Rescue Squad $83,000 to discontinue the lease. The addition of this location would cut down the department’s response time by two minutes to the surrounding area and beyond.
Previously, this building was used by LFD until they relocated in 2011 to a new fire station adjacent to the Davidson County Airport. The new station was built to be service multiple areas of the growing Lexington community. The Cotton Grove station is temporary and it would take three years to fully utilize this facility.
A few councilors were concerned over the cost since the Rescue Squad leased the building for $10,000. Others saw the value of the property and understood the cost. The termination of the lease agreement was approved 5-1 with Councilor Joe Watkins voting against. Councilor Frank Calicutt was absent.
A decommissioning fund bill for the nuclear power plant the city partially owns was announced. Passed by the state legislature, this bill will hopefully allow for electrical rates to be lower through reallocation of money. There was also the announcement of the date of the municipal elections. The elections will be held on March 8th, 2022 with potential redistricting based on the results of the 2020 census.. Also, Lexington will receive a grant from the American Rescue Plan for just over six million. The first three million will be paid in 2021 while the remainder will be paid in 2022.
To learn more about any of these announcements, the detailed meeting agenda packet can be found here.
