Goodyear wants to speed up construction of new fire stations to battle what some call unacceptable response times, but it will likely take months to come up with a timeline.
The city council spent hours reviewing a roughly $53,000 study that recommends building two new fire stations and relocating a third.
Goodyear had to close one station this year over health concerns and the city hasn’t opened a new station for almost a decade.
Officials acknowledge a population boom and the city’s large footprint creates a problem.
Monday’s discussion should have happened sooner, said City Councilman Bill Stipp.
“We didn’t learn anything new from this that we didn’t already know,” Stipp said. “We know we need a fire station down south. We know we need a fire station out west. We know we’ve been approving developments in those two areas.”
City officials said they continue to work with developers on a deal to expedite funding for one of the stations. They also plan to analyze the city’s finances as part of the budget process that starts in January.
“I think everybody can agree the citizens need fire stations,” said Stephen Gilman, president of United Goodyear Firefighters. “But is going to come down to what are the priorities of council.”
