DAPHNE, Ala. — On Monday, the City Council discussed awarding bids on various city improvements, including a $374,000 structure set to be built for the fire department.

The structure will be purchased through a loan from the city, which will be repaid by the city’s volunteer fire department. The loan was already approved by the finance committee and the city council months ago, but bids for the project were awarded this week.

In April, the council voted 7-0 to approve a $600,000 loan from the city to the volunteer fire department to build a burn training facility and purchase a new fire truck and equipment.

The department’s most immediate need, however, is $375,000 to build a training facility. The facility purportedly will save the department money normally spent sending new members of the force to neighboring cities for training. The fire department has also begun the process to be a training facility affiliated with the Alabama Fire College, which will bring additional revenue into the city. Trainees coming into Daphne will have to pay for the training as well as generate revenue through hotel rooms and food purchased in the city.

The fire department currently uses a fire tower, which reportedly requires new tile to be placed on each floor every two, or three years, which costs $50,000 each floor.

The bid was awarded to WHP Training Towers in the amount of $374,534, which is less than the amount the volunteer fire department anticipated spending on the structure. WHP Training Towers did not have the lowest bid, but the company whose bid was $6,000 less did not complete the bid package as requested, so the lowest bid was rejected.

“The low bidder was recommended to be disqualified because they did not fulfill the requirements…the lowest bidder out of Louisiana was not the lowest responsive bidder based on our needs of information. I concur that they should be disqualified,” Jay Ross, city attorney said.

Mayor Fred Small said the rejection had nothing to do with where the company was located, but instead was due to its incomplete package. 

“Basically, the reason they were rejected was because this is a design build and they were supposed to actually show some type of rendering or drawing of what they planned on doing there and they did not send in or produce any drawings or renderings … the other companies did,” Small said.

Councilmember John Lake was concerned that the city could better use the funds.

“This burn building, is it only going to be used by the City of Daphne or will it be used by surrounding areas and do we charge a fee if other areas or other communities use it? Will it be revenue?” Lake asked. “I know that this is not our money, but it is money that can be used for capital expenses that will be used for the citizens. If we are going to be covering the expense of other communities I think that there should be a sharing from those other communities to Daphne because we need another fire station and we have other needs, too.”

The goal is to be a regional training facility, according to representatives for the volunteer fire department. The facility could be included in the Shelton State and Alabama Fire College system of training locations.

The facility is expected to be used by other communities, which would pay some fee for usage.

In other news, the council voted 5-0 to approve the new land use and development ordinance. The 410-page document outlines the city’s policies on future land use, zoning, subdivisions, Olde Towne Daphne, duties and powers of the planning commission, building permits, the establishment of districts, parking requirements, drainage and stormwater management facilities, landscape standards, tree protection, coastal protection, annexations, sign provisions and self-service vending units. The ordinance will create a golf course district and an outdoor entertainment district, as well as expand the multi-family zoning designation into different categories.

Copies of the new ordinance are available online at www.daphneal.com under the government tab in the most recent council packet.