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Morgan Says No To Building $22 Million Training Facility On 684 Acres Near Molino
December 4, 2008
Sheriff-elect David Morgan is putting a stop on a $22 million deal to purchase 684 acres north of Molino near the Camp O’ the Pines for a regional police, fire and EMS training facility.
Morgan said he is not convinced that the facility is needed.
Pensacola Junior College, The PJC Foundation, Escambia County and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department entered into an interlocal agreement in 2006 to purchase the land from RMS Timberlands, LLC for $3,278,400. That sale was to be closed by December 18 on the Highway 29 property.
$11 million of the total $22 million price tag for the facility was to be contributed by the sheriff’s department via the county from local option sales tax money. The other $11 million was to come from a state grant obtained by PJC.
Because Morgan wants out of the agreement, the Escambia County Commission voted 3-1 to cancel the agreement at a Wednesday meeting. Commissioner Grover Robinson cast the dissenting vote, and Chairman Marie Young was absent. The final vote to cancel the agreement will come from the commission on December 11. If the county does back out, they will pay a $200,000 penalty.
Morgan plans to meet with County Administrator Bob McLaughlin and Ed Meadows, PJC president, to discuss the project. Commissioner Gene Valentino said he hopes Morgan will change his decision so the county is not out the $200,000.
The attorney representing PJC in the deal, Tom Gilliam, said all three parties — the sheriff, the county and PJC — must be in agreement for the deal to proceed.
Plans called for the facility to being as a state-of-the-art firing range for PJC students and area law enforcement. It was to expand into a fire and emergency medical service training facility.
Morgan will take office as then new Escambia sheriff in January.
Pictured above: Sheriff-elect David Morgan. NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Comments
13 Responses to “Morgan Says No To Building $22 Million Training Facility On 684 Acres Near Molino”
I bet he wishes he had this training center now.
Since when do the fire dept’s go to santa rosa county to train ? Escambia county just built a training room at station 12, all the departments have instructors and training rooms ,we can use the drill tower at pensacola st. 4. I do understand what you are saying though, its pretty strange to run an aerial all over town jumping calls, or have a paid crew from brent trying to run from saufley field rd and mobile hwy to scenic hwy for a structure fire, thats not a waste of fuel and wear and tear on the truck, But you know its OK they are pro’s , and we are just ” vollies “.
Sounds like the “Good Ole Boy”…Sheriff Ronnie Mac..Is Trying to Slip One
Last Hoorah..past The Escambia County Taxpayers..Excellent Decision
By Our New Sheriff-Elect Morgan…Let The Emergency Personnel Train
at the K-9 Grounds Located At The Welcome Center Entrance…They Have
a Building For Classrooms And A Plot Of Land To Train On…..
“Thank The Clear Thinking Voters”… Of Escambia County For Sending
“Boss Hog McNesby”… Back To Hunting Cabin…….
Chuck,
Do you really believe they are going to give back the LOST money?
I will agree that a smaller site to train existing public safety employees would be reasonable. But 684 acres for crying out loud!!!! It smacks of Ronnie Macs love of shiny new toys no matter what we have to pay. Go back to the drawing board a come back with something realistic and maybe I’ll bite. And by the way I would personally benefit from this mega-training facility and am still adamantly against it. To the person that thinks the 11 million in L.O.S.T money will be spent elsewhere, think again. The county would have floated another bond and then put off paying it like they have their other bond debt……research it.
This sounds a lot better than the electric car venture in Century, to me. This would create jobs for some, and train other people for jobs as well.
Maybe we could negotiate, look for alternatives. If it works out fine, if it don’t it don’t. Let’s atleast try.
It could mean better trained Deputies, EMS, and Firefighters.
Kudos to Mr. Morgan for his insight on the economics of our area. He probably understands that, sure, a new training facility would be wonderful and valuable to our public safety people, but we already have a drill tower and live fire boxes available at PFD sta. 4 that are being utilized by PJC fire classes , county fire, city fire, and the vollies. The police have not had issues other than lead contamination at their facilities. Hard times dictate hard decisions and this was a fair one. Besides, all public safety sectors are cutting back all they can right now while trying to maintain safe staffing levels, I don’t see the need for a new facility to train rookies that dont stand a snowballs chance of getting a job right now. Sorry folks but that’s the way it is.
First off County Fires fire tax has 75 dollars a year for a long time. So shut up. It would cost more for fuel, truck and engine maintenance for departments to travel to Santa Rosa county to train all the time. Good solid organizations need a place to train within a reasonable about of distance. Plus look at it like this, your sick or you fell or hell your house is on fire. But wait your fire department is in santa rosa for training. So you say have another station cover that district. Okay good, but say they get a fire in there district now it takes longer for them to get there.
So where will the $11 million in “local option sales tax” money be diverted? You think not spending the $11 million on this facility means that Mr. Morgan will actually save the $11 million?
If so, I’ll sale you a bridge any where in the county for $11 million. I’ll bet Mr. Morgan wants some new patrol cars / facility improvements and no longer wants to be cooperative.
It sounds like our new sheriff has a grasp on the economic situation of this county and state. Facilities like this are nice but we have to understand that we are all having to tighten our belts because this is likely to be a long recession with dwindling revenue sources. Has the county and PJC looked into using firing ranges on one of our local military bases? Has our fire and emergency departments thought of sharing training facilities with Santa Rosa county?
I have seen our emergency services/ fire departments grow into a money devouring beast that raises the fire tax every couple of years.Our fire departments use to know how to make do and save money.
If the county does back out, they will pay a $200,000 penalty.
No Big problem for them…It’s tax payer DOLLARS being wasted!!!!!!!!!!
You know “what the H***” who cares about writing a $200.000 check for nothing, it’s only Mis-Management…But it’s legal for them..The rest go to Jail! TAKE THE $200.000 OUT OF MORGAN’S BUDGET……………………………
The training facility is not only for the sherrifs office. It would be used to train firefighters and medical personnel too. I think it would be a awful to lose this opportunity to have a state of the art training center such as this. Not only would the county personnel have a great place to train but other county and state agencies would pay to come here to train. It could actually bring dollars into the county.
Buying 684 acres near Camp O’ the Pines for a training facility? This really does sound like good ol boy network deal. The BOCC out $200,000 – that’s too bad, but worse would be the sheriff’s office having to come up with the 11 million dollars, when the BOCC didn’t increase the budget for this year.