Representatives of the Columbia volunteer fire company told council on Sept. 23 they plan to apply for a Local Share Account (LSA) grant through the state Department of Community and Economic Development to rehabilitate the firehouse social hall and possibly repave the parking lot.

A fire representative described planned work that would move the building’s primary entrance to a side breezeway, improve interior circulation to reduce conflicts between event attendees and responding firefighters, address underground infrastructure such as sewer piping, and—if the budget allows—completely redo the parking lot because much of it would be disturbed during construction. The full set of quotes now totals $889,498.60, the speaker said. "If we're gonna do all of that, now comes out to $889,498.60," the fire representative told council.

Staff and council said the borough must sponsor the application because the fire company is not an eligible applicant; borough sponsorship requires a council resolution and, if the application is successful, borough processing of payments and issuance of checks to the fire company. The fire representative acknowledged the project will require prevailing wages and confirmed that the quotes reflect prevailing-wage pricing.

Council president Zink and staff agreed to draft and present a resolution at the next council meeting so the fire company can submit the application before the Nov. 30 deadline. The applicant and borough officials acknowledged the LSA program’s long notification timeline—award decisions typically are not announced until about a year later—and said they understood the possibility of partial funding and of the borough needing to manage phased work if the full amount is not awarded.

Why it matters: The application could fund substantial rehabilitation of a community facility and address safety concerns raised by the fire company about event layout and emergency access. If awarded, the project would be subject to prevailing-wage requirements and likely a one-year-plus timeline for award notification.

Meeting context: The item was presented under new business; council did not vote on a resolution that night but agreed to bring a resolution with the requested amount to the next meeting for formal action.