Last year, City Council voted 6-1 to approve a fire substation in a private home at 425 E. Lake Ave. for a trial period of one year. Unfortunately, a plumbing issue flooded the house and the substation was never used.

As a result, city staff proposed four locations for a new substation Tuesday night: the former site of Watsonville Farm Supply, Franich Park, Fowle Reservoir and Joyce Street Park.

Watsonville Fire Chief Pablo Baretto, Mayor Felipe Hernandez and City Councilmembers Jimmy Dutra and Rebecca Garcia voiced support for the two-parcel Watsonville Farm Supply site located on E. Lake Ave. However, this option is the most expensive — an estimated $2.1 million — due to its location on a main thoroughfare.

Of the four proposals, city staff recommended Franich Park, which is located at the corner of Menasco Drive and Vista Montana Drive next to Ann Soldo Elementary School. The Franich Park site is attractive because it could be a long-term permanent solution and is the cheapest with an estimate cost of $750,000 to $1.2 million as it uses city property.

Drawbacks to Franich Park include the fact that the site would require community outreach. Dutra said residents of the Franich Park neighborhood and parents of students at Ann Soldo Elementary would oppose the substation. City Councilmember Karina Cervantez Alejo said she did not want the city to use designated open space for the substation. In addition, she questioned the accuracy of the cost estimates provided in the staff report.

The new facility will expand ESD 1's ability to respond to fires in Annetta, Annetta South and the greater Aledo area, ESD 1 Fire Chief Stephen Watson said.

"[This] will also improve response capacity in the greater Aledo/Annetta area by having a station south of the railroad tracks, and an additional staffed engine company in the region," he said.

The station, expected to be complete by mid-summer 2017, will also allow the Insurance Services Office to extend the current Public Protection Class rating to a five-mile distance from the facility.

The facility will be staffed by two personnel at all times, with assistance from Aledo Volunteer Fire Department members, Watson said.

An engine, 3,000 gallon tanker and brush truck will also be housed at the station.

Plans for the new station were initiated in the summer of 2014, when ESD 1 representatives asked the Annetta South City Council to change the zoning for four acres of land located at the corner of Farm-to-Market 5 and Thunderhead Lane to accommodate the facility.

"Having that station staffed will affect the protection of the City of Aledo," Watson said, as reported by the Weatherford Democrat in 2014. "And at that point, the ISO score would be extended to folks within five miles of the station.

Mold was discovered in the station in March after firefighters complained about a bad smell. Plastic barriers were installed and a filtration system was moved into the space. Crews headed to temporary quarters -- first to the Oddfellows Hall on the same lot and then to a temporary trailer also on site. Apparatus remains parked in the station with the doors open.

Discussion about a permanent solution to the moldy situation began at the Nov. 17 Fire Board meeting when EDH Fire Chief Dave Roberts asked the board to declare an emergency and authorize a contract with West Coast Restoration to complete the job the company started nearly nine months earlier and upgrade station amenities to include an adequate kitchen, sleeping quarters and climate control units. "It's been long enough," Roberts said. "Each month it gets worse and worse."

Noting that winter weather could only add to the problem, EDH deputy fire Chief Tom Keating pointed out, "We still have a building that's half tore up. The mold will continue to grow."

But directors weren't convinced the option before them is the best course of action.

"I'm not a fan of the plan," Director Jim Hartley said, explaining that he worries that once crews tear into the building repair costs would grow. He argued that the $200,000 could be better spent as seed money toward a permanent, fire department-owned facility "that could be much more adequate." The El Dorado Hills Fire Department currently leases the Station 91 space for $1 a year.

The ladder truck cost local taxpayers around $32,000, which is about 5% of the total price tag. The balance of the cost was covered by a federal grant.

The truck occupies one of the bays at the new fire station near Mosquito Lake, which the township just opened earlier this month.

The department serves 6,000 homes, as well as a number of businesses in the area.