Pulaski County Public Safety’s Station Five has a new home.

Soon the old facility on Lagrange Street in Pulaski will be closed down and personnel and equipment moved to new digs at 1850 Bob White Boulevard.

The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, County Administration, Public Safety personnel and others joined together Wednesday afternoon for a ribbon cutting and open house to show off the new facility.

According to Pulaski County’s Bill Warden, work on transforming the building – which in its past was White Rock Motors and later a childcare facility – into a brand spanking new home for members of the Public Safety department began in January. Planning and design work actually began even before that, according to Joe Trigg, Director of the Public Safety department.

Trigg said his department had input into every phase of the building’s transformation.

“We’re very proud of it. It’s been a long time in coming,” said Trigg. “The construction crew did a super job. Just top notch. You can see by looking at it the quality of work is just superb. They worked with us through the design process, and we had input through every step of the process. That makes all the difference in the world.”

The building has a large bay for rescue vehicles, along with a kitchen, rooms for crew members, storage, office and common areas.

The facility sits smack in the middle of a storage building facility, but Trigg said he doesn’t see that causing any issues for his department.

“It’s being in the middle of a storage building location shouldn’t cause any problems for us,” Trigg said. “We have right of way access through here and there’s enough land attached to this building that we shouldn’t have any issues whatsoever.”

Massie District Supervisor Andy McCready noted the county appreciates the donation of the building to the county by its former owner, David Hagan.

“We appreciate the effort the county’s building crew put into this project,” Trigg added. “We also appreciate the support of the Board of Supervisors and County Administration in getting this done. It’s nice to work in a county that supports public safety the way it is in this area.”

Asked to compare the new facility to the old one on Lagrange, Trigg gave a one-word answer.

“Modernized.” “The other was a very old building. It is in pretty poor shape. We’ve been putting Band-aids on it for years trying to keep it in service. This is more modern, and gets us in a more prominent location,” Trigg said.

County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said the new facility “is a demonstration of just how the Board of Supervisors prioritizes you guys (public safety personnel) and what you do.

“It took a long time but was worth every month. It looks great. We’re so proud of this. We want you to be proud of it, and the community to be proud of it,” Sweet added.

“But at the end of the day it is about saving lives, and we need to make sure you guys have the tools and resources to do just that.”

“This is just another link in the chain of what the administration, the prior board of supervisors and the current board are tying to do to enhance the safety of our citizens in this county,” remarked Jeff Reeves, Robinson District Supervisor who represents the area where the facility is located.

“We can have the best resources; we can have the best equipment and we can have the best facilities – and I think the staff did an excellent job on this facility. The workmanship really shows, and we appreciate it.

“We can have all that, but without the people we don’t have anything,” Reeves continued.

“The (public safety) employee staff and the volunteers are what’s important. And if you ever see that we’re (board of supervisors) are lacking in support of that let us know. Because that should be our first priority. Anything we can do besides this facility; you know where to come.”

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