This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.thedailytimes.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.
Article published Mar 19, 2008 Guard offers $700,000 to upgrade firing range
By Joel Davis of The Daily Times Staff
The County Commission on Thursday will consider approving an agreement to allow the Air National Guard to purchase a new targeting system, worth about $700,000 including installation, for the Blount County Sheriff’s Office firing range.
The Guard would fund the purchase in exchange for use of the range and dedicated classroom space in a planned new facility at the location.
The commission will consider the matter at its regular meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in Room 430 of the Blount County Courthouse.
Some figures in the fine print of the agreement may be subject to misinterpretation. Although the agreement document lists the county’s contribution to the project as $2.1 million, which is the estimated cost of construction of the proposed new facility, it does not mean the county is obligating itself to finance the building, according to County Finance Director Dave Bennett.
Bennett, referencing the Statement of Work included with the agreement document, said the county has the option to design and construct an operations building on the project site, but the agreement does not obligate the county or the Air National Guard to do so.
The sheriff’s office envisions using funding from several sources, including the Guard, the County Emergency Communications District Board and drug funds, to pay for the construction of the new facility, according to a spokeswoman.
The sheriff’s office drug fund comes from money and property confiscated from people convicted of drug crimes.
“That will have to come back to the commission (for approval), but that’s not tax money,” Bennett said.
The Blount County 9-1-1 center’s current site at Louisville Road by the U.S. Bypass is for sale. The emergency communications board voted in September to locate a new 9-1-1 center in the basement of the proposed Sheriff’s Office training facility, which would be built on Honeysuckle Road behind the Alcoa-Maryville-Blount County Landfill.
“There are plans in the works to build the 9-1-1 center there,” Bennett said.
“Ultimately, in my opinion, there will be a facility constructed there. As part of this agreement, the sheriff’s office has agreed to allow some space in that facility for the Air National Guard.”
When the basement facility for the new 9-1-1 center is built, the Sheriff’s Office plans to build a shell on top of the site that will eventually be finished into office and classroom space.
“Though that building is incorporated into our long-range plans, it doesn’t commit us to anything,” Sheriff James Berrong said.