At its regular meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Danville City Council will consider a budget amendment to put $500,000 toward a recently opened station for the city’s Life Saving Crew.
This amount, coming from unassigned funds in the city’s General Fund, would help complete renovations and ensure the station is fully operational, according to the staff report in the meeting’s agenda packet.
The Danville Life Saving Crew opened the George and Sarah Buchanan East Side Station in August.
“The station is designed to reduce citywide EMS response times from 10 to 8 minutes, enhance public safety and service delivery,” the staff report says.
The property for the station was acquired in 2020, and the project has been funded with a combination of city support, foundation seed money and donations from the community. The city contributed $1.9 million using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act and its general fund.
The Life Saving Crew has been serving Danville for about 80 years, and this is its third station in the city. The organization is a group of staff and volunteers that perform rescue operations and provide emergency pre-hospital care to the sick and injured.
Investing in public safety and infrastructure as the city continues to grow is part of Danville’s recently updated comprehensive plan. More residents, visitors, businesses and industry coming to the region brings the potential for increased strain on emergency services and infrastructure.
“The project supports the city’s broader public safety and infrastructure goals, including improved access, expanded parking, and enhanced service provision for residents,” the report says.
The station houses three ambulances, a quick response vehicle and a heavy-duty rescue truck. It serves the northern and River District areas of the city.
This item is a first reading on Tuesday’s agenda, meaning that council will not take any action on it at this meeting. A vote on whether to approve the budget amendment will be taken at a later date.
City staff recommends that council approve the budget amendment to allocate this funding.
The city council meeting will be followed by a work session. The Commission of Architectural Review meeting scheduled for Thursday has been canceled due to lack of quorum.
In Pittsylvania County, the board of supervisors will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m., holding a work session earlier that day at 2:30 p.m. The county’s Industrial Development Authority will meet Wednesday at 6 p.m., and the Community Policy and Management Team will meet Thursday at 2 p.m.
