Guichlen County’s fire‑station planning drew pointed discussion at a Board work session as staff, the fire chief and several supervisors described rising market costs and design changes that have pushed estimated construction costs well above earlier budgeting. The Board directed staff to complete Station 8 design, seek bids, and bring firm contract figures back before authorizing work on additional fire‑station projects.

Why it matters: Fire stations change response networks countywide; under‑budgeting a station can trigger later requests for more county funds or result in a facility that does not accommodate modern staffing and operations. Board members emphasized they want to see a final, bid‑ready number for Station 8 before committing additional money for Station 7.

Chief Ferguson summarized the design and site work for Station 8 and explained industry changes that have raised costs. "What we're looking at for fire station 8 is just under just under 16,000 square feet," the chief said, and he reported a regional cost estimator showing roughly "$520 a square foot" as a planning figure — a number that, at that square footage, yields a multi‑million‑dollar project. The chief told the Board that neighboring jurisdictions show a range of station costs from about $7 million to $14 million depending on scope and whether living quarters are dormitory style or individual bunk rooms; he said the county’s design reflects the latter to meet current public‑health and staffing expectations.

Several supervisors said they were surprised the current budget allocation for Station 8 (described in staff spreadsheets as nearly $12,000,000) is substantially larger than earlier staff or board expectations. One supervisor said the change in the station estimate "came in with a stroke of a pen" and asked that staff return with detailed accounting of prior allocations and the design components that drove the increase. Staff told the Board there were prior appropriations and transfers dating back to 2018–2019 related to fire‑station planning and that the current $12,000,000 figure reflects accumulated appropriations and contingency planning, not a single new, unvetted increase.

Procurement and timing: staff and the chief said Station 8 is approximately 70 percent through design with a target to advertise construction bids on or about November 1 and to have bid pricing by the end of the calendar year. The chief and staff advised that apparatus deliveries and vehicle orders have long lead times — the county is already ordering ambulances and brush trucks and attempting to identify a stock fire engine to shorten delivery time. Chief Ferguson noted that delivery lead times vary but that a multi‑engine order and supply‑chain timing could result in multiple apparatus deliveries clustered close together.

Discussion‑only context: Board members discussed whether to use a standard, replicated design to reduce scoring and procurement time; procurement staff explained the Virginia Public Procurement Act requires market competition and that the RFP language is being written to describe a desired standard (for example, a three‑bay apparatus with specific living and mechanical systems) without requiring an identical proprietary design so that multiple firms can compete.

Next steps: staff will complete construction documents, advertise the A/E or construction procurement as appropriate, solicit bids by November, and return to the Board with final bid results and a recommendation for whether to proceed on Station 8 and how to phase Station 7 design and construction.