MANSFIELD — The opening of Washington Township’s new municipal complex on Thursday was about 16 years in the making.
The brand-new, red-roofed facility at the corner of Vanderbilt Rd. and State Route 13 provides a new home for the township’s many services, including the fire and roads departments.
According to Jack Butler, chairman of the Washington Township trustees, a study commissioned by the township a few years ago pinpointed that exact location as the ideal place for the fire department.
It’s a far cry from the smaller, crowded previous location of the department on Possum Run Road, where fire trucks often had to compete with traffic congestion in the restaurant/retail area at the I-71/Ohio 13 interchange.
“The old facility, you’d have to walk sideways between the trucks,” Butler said. “Some of it was at least 70 years old. This is certainly needed, and we praise the Lord that we’ve got it.”
The community is invited to tour the new building at a pancake breakfast on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 7 to 11 a.m. Open house tours will also take place until 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Facility specs
The new structure, encompassing 18,000 to 21,000 square-feet on about 15 acres, includes many needed modern amenities.
A new fire station and administrative office space includes offices for township services and fire department leadership, a township meeting hall and shared fitness space, five modern apparatus bays for storage, and updated living quarters and amenities for firefighters.
Also included in the project was a new, 8,300 square-foot road department facility that includes heated storage space, space for administrative and staff functions, a welding and fabrication shop, and five drive-thru storage bays with space for future expansion.
“The reason you need a modern facility is, it’s getting tougher to get volunteers, and if you’ve got a rundown building to work in, that’s not very appealing,” Butler said. “But when they see this, they might be enticed into a career in EMS or fire fighting.”
Fire chief David Compton also noted the facility includes a training mezzanine with moveable walls, and a new exhaust system that removes the harmful toxins from the vehicles’ diesel exhaustion.
“Cancer in the fire service is a hot topic now, as it has been for several years, so it’s very important now to do anything we can to protect our personnel from the significant cancer risk we have,” Compton said.
The fire station is currently staffed seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. with two personnel, and an after-hours on-call program supplemented with volunteers. The chief said the department goes on approximately 1,000 calls a year.
“(The new building) provides a larger and much more modern area for our personnel, and provides growth for future 24-hour staffing,” Compton said.
The architect for the project was Mull & Weithman Architects, Inc. and the contractor was Studer-Obringer, Inc.
Federal assistance
The project was made possible by the approval of a bond issue in May of 2021, which will repay a $9.6 million community facilities loan from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development program.
Jonathan McCracken, Ohio’s director for rural development, congratulated the township on behalf of the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“USDA Rural Development is a partner for rural communities across the state, and projects like this one are key to our mission — improving the quality of life for Americans, no matter where they live,” McCracken said.
From Oct. 2023 to Sept. 2024, the Ohio Rural Development team worked through more than 2,600 programs and projects, obligating more than $700 million in grants, loans and loan guarantees.
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown sent a representative to read a statement for those present at the ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday.
“The public servants who work as firefighters and their families all make sacrifices and take on serious risks to protect our community,” Brown said in the written statement. “This new facility will ensure you have what you need to support and protect for many years to come.”
U.S. Senator and current Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance also sent a written proclamation to township officials.
“The new fire station stands as a testament to the Washington Township fire department’s unwavering commitment to public safety and service,” Vance said in the proclamation.
“It will not only improve response times and readiness, but will also ensure the dedicated team of firefighters at the Washington Township fire department have the modern resources they need to continue protecting the community with excellence.”