New fire station for Grain Valley on the April ballot

​          The Central Jackson County Fire Protection District (CJCFPD) has placed two questions on the April 6th ballot, asking voters for their support in adding a second fire station on the north side of Grain Valley. The district currently has five stations scattered throughout its service area, including the lone Grain Valley station on Eagles Parkway. Growth in Grain Valley and the surrounding communities on the north side of 1-70 necessitates the addition of a second station, according to CJCFPD Fire Chief Jeff Grote.      
     Grote stated the district has purchased a three acre lot at Duncan and Dillingham Roads on the north side of Grain Valley, but has not yet drawn up plans for the station.
    “We will work hand in hand with the community and City leaders to build a fire station that looks like it fits in that area,” Grote said.
     Question 1 will ask voters to approve the issuance of $10,000,000 in general obligation bonds by the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District “to acquire, construct, improve and install buildings, vehicles and equipment to serve the District, including to (1) acquire land for, and construct, furnish and equip a new fire station, and (2) acquire fire trucks and other fire/rescue or emergency equipment or apparatus”. Approval of the measure would allow CJCFPD to build a station at Duncan and Dillingham.
     Staffing of the new station would be made possible through passage of Question 2, which authorizes CJCFPD to levy an additional operating tax levy “of not more than $0.30 per one hundred dollars assessed valuation to provide funds for paying the expenses of operating and maintaining new and existing fire stations, including hiring firefighters/emergency medical
personnel for new and existing fire stations”.
     Grote says the project, if approved, will take approximately two years to complete. Hiring of 24 fire fighters would begin shortly after passage of the levy, with new fire fighters assigned to other stations until the new station comes online.
     Also on the ballot for voters within the Grain Valley R-V School District will be a ballot measure to provide in-district tuition rates for residents attaching the Junior College District of Metropolitan Kansas City, Missouri, effective the 22nd day of April 2021. If approved, residents within the school district boundaries would be eligible for in-district tuition rates. Currently, residents must pay out-of-district tuition rates to attend Metropolitan Community College. Valley News will report on this measure in more detail in next week’s edition.
     The deadline to register to vote for the April 6th election is March 10th. For voter registration information, visit www.jcebmo.org.