HUBBARD — Evaluation continues on the fire department’s options for a new home, and a contract with the city could increase the chances of it staying near its current location.

At Monday’s meeting, Councilman Jonathan Rose, D-at Large, requested Law Director Mark Villano draw up the necessary legislation for a resolution allowing the city to enter into a contract with the Eagle Joint Fire District.

The contract states that the city will donate the fire department’s current property and the adjacent recycling center property if the city-owned site is chosen for a new fire station and the fire department secures grants, funding, donations and other outside funding.

The property’s ownership will not transfer unless the site is selected and all funding is secured, the contract states.

The request came after a safety board meeting an hour before, where Rose explained to residents that there have been two locations in mind for a new fire station. The locations are an offer of 3 to 5 acres of land near Love’s Travel Stop and the recycling center property.

Discussions regarding a new location go back months after multiple meetings involving both the safety committee and city council and a special EJFD meeting in March.

Rose asked Councilmen Mike Kerr, D-4th Ward, and Jerome Crowe, D-at Large, if they had any questions, reiterating that the city will retain ownership if the fire department cannot get its desired funding.

“Right now, there’s two plots we own where the old haunted house used to be, and you got the city-owned (property) where the fire department is,” Rose said. “We want to look at them being together so we can pursue more grants and build a better fire station for the future of the town.”

Crowe said officials have been discussing the fire department potentially moving for “quite some time,” noting that the city owns the fire station and property in front of it.

Crowe said the fire district’s board of trustees said they can’t secure grants unless they own it all.

“I thought about it for a while, that we ought to go ahead and do it, to give them the opportunity to get those grants and build a bigger and better fire department,” Crowe said. “I think it’s better for the future of the fire department, if they can get those grants and build the building they want.”

Kerr said he agreed with Crowe, but admitted his 25-year history with the fire department made him a bit biased.

“I know the condition of that building, and it is small and a lot of the new apparatus has to be bigger to fit,” Kerr said. “If the law director sees that the wording is correct, go ahead; I mean, I’d rather keep it in the city than go in the township.”

Rose clarified that the fire board is still looking at both properties, but the resolution will allow them to look at a bigger city property moving forward.

Mayor Ben Kyle said he saw fire Chief Ron Stanish over the weekend, and they were both saying it would be great to sit down with drawings to get an idea of what’s feasible and what isn’t.

Kyle said he met with the county’s planning commission about the proposed township location, adding that they wouldn’t know anything until they try.

“I think that, in the interest, as Mr. Kerr said — it’s an old building. I mean we’ve all been there, (it’s) been there since I was a kid. It’s extremely outdated,” Kyle said. “It’s been retrofitted to meet the needs of our community.”

Kyle said officials were talking $4 million to $6 million for the facility, noting the Saybrook Fire Department building cost $2 million to $3 million for a smaller one.

Kyle also questioned how the city would sensibly reallocate its land in a manner that considers what is already present.

“We have our park; that’s always going to be there, we hope. The war memorial, I hope we never have to move it. There’s a lot of things that are going to be a part of the community,” Kyle said. “But our recycling center? Let’s move it.”

Kyle said the city’s recycling center is “strangely” one of the busiest sites in the county, noting that the tonnage pulled from it is one of the highest in the area.

“We just got a grant for lighting, we got a light for cameras, all those different things, but a lot of that stuff, we can move it, we could reallocate it,” Kyle said. “There’s a lot of options, and I think that a lot of improvements have been made by Eagle Joint Fire District and the city prior to that, from the income tax improvement in the early 2000s.”

Kyle said he and Safety Director Shawn Rentz want to see the fire station stay in the city, so they should run down some options.

“Maybe there’s a great reason to be able to put a satellite station further out — there’s a lot of different things that need to be looked at with an open mind,” Kyle said. “So that there’s real answers that can come, and I think this is one thing.”