Grayslake fire official: We need new station
Time was the key word Wednesday night when Grayslake Fire Protection District Chief Don Mobley's talked about the referendum appearing on Tuesday's ballots.
Time is critical when firefighters respond to blazes throughout the roughly 24-square-mile district, Mobley explained. Time is critical when paramedics respond to 911 calls for heart attacks or strokes, he said.
And right now, Mobley said, it takes too much time for crews to respond to emergencies on the district's Fremont Township area: More than 10 minutes in ideal conditions and even longer if there's traffic or other hindrances, he said.
"We can't get there in a timely manner," Mobley told the small crowd attending an open house at Station No. 1 in downtown Grayslake.
That will change if voters approve a tax-rate increase that will generate money to build a new station on the district's south side, hire new staff and upgrade equipment, proponents of the proposal have said.
The new station would be the district's third. A second station is near the College of Lake County campus in Grayslake.
A site hasn't been chosen yet, Mobley said.
The ballot proposal calls for the district's tax rate to increase 17 cents to 60 cents per $100 of equalized assessed valuation. For the owner of a typical house valued at $200,000, the tax bill to the district would go up by about $111 the first year.
The plan has support in the community. In the downtown area, many storefront windows include posters promoting the plan. A citizen group formed to publicize the plan, too.
No organized opposition efforts have materialized.
Among the supporters are local residents Dick and Jeri Blanchard, who live in the Saddlebrook Farms retirement community near where a new station could be built. Both voted early and backed the plan.
"We need (a station) in that area," Jeri Blanchard said.
"There's an ambulance in our area every day," Dick Blanchard said. "Someday, when you get to be our age, you're going to need it."
The district includes parts of Grayslake, Hainesville, Third Lake, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Beach and unincorporated areas of Lake County.