For years, the city of Valle Hermoso, a community with approximately 65,000 residents, had been making do with an aging fire truck donated to them by the City of San Benito decades ago. It was the only fire truck the fire department had, and when it ultimately broke beyond repair, it left the already underequipped department in a poor position to help their community during emergencies.

Enter the City of Port Isabel, which had fairly recently mothballed a 25-year-old fire truck that was in good working order. Modernized regulations meant the City couldn’t sell or donate the truck to another community here in the U.S., but for a town in Mexico, the vehicle was a beacon of hope.

The funding contract requires the county to pay for about 26 percent of the fire station renovation and 32 percent of the senior center renovation. That leaves the city’s share of the renovations at about $4.8 million, with a total price tag of about $6.4 million due to relocation costs, according to the city staff memo to the commission.

Since August, the ambulance service has been working out of Lawrence’s oldest standing fire station, at 1839 Massachusetts St. That location is not big enough for the fire trucks, and firefighters have been working out of a trailer on the site on Kentucky Street.

Fire Station No. 1 is a midcentury modern structure built in 1950 as the city’s public safety building. The senior center is housed in the eastern portion of the building. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the commission will also vote whether to finalize a cooperation agreement between the city, coun