The East Peoria Council approved a new fire station on Centennial Drive Tuesday, CentralIllinoisProud.com reported.

The council approved the special use permit for the new station unanimously, the report said.

The new fire station will be built on land owned by Illinois Central College, which has offered a long-term lease to the city. Most of the cost of the station will be covered by grants, according to the report.

A groundbreaking for the new fire station will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at 2001 Centennial Drive. The full meeting is available to watch on the East Peoria Facebook page.

Calhoun County failed to meet a payment deadline for the purchase of a new fire truck, resulting in the county having to pay nearly $22,000 more for the same truck, The Times and Democrat reported.

The county missed the deadline to order the truck before a price increase went into effect, a county official said. It was an oversight on our part, the county official said, according to the report.

The county official explained that the fire truck was to be purchased with proceeds from the capital project sales tax. Its cost was estimated at $370,000, the report said. However, by the time the truck was designed and ready to order, inflation raised the cost to $518,747, according to the report.

The complexities of the process do not excuse the oversight, but are a contributing factor to the extended timeframe in getting the truck ordered, the county official said, according to the report.

Tyrone Township Board of Supervisors announced at its November 14 meeting that funds were raised to buy a new vehicle for the Sinking Valley Volunteer Fire Company, one that is slightly smaller than the other fire trucks and therefore easier to operate on winding roads, HuntingdonDailyNews.com reported.

The need for a new and smaller truck was first brought to the board’s attention at the supervisor’s meeting in April 2022, the report said. During the public comment section, a fire official said while the trucks that the fire company had at the time were in full working order, they were too large for the area. Maneuvering the cumbersome vehicles on the many narrow and twisting roadways in Sinking Valley is difficult and therefore time-consuming—and time is something that emergency responders cannot afford to waste, the report said.

After months of debate and discussion, some northern Michigan communities are starting to spend their American Rescue Plan Funds, UpNorthLive.com reported.

Traverse City is one of those communities, but a proposed expense raised questions among the firefighters, the report said.

Two fire stations dating back to the 1970s have some serious deficiencies when it comes to gender neutrality and ABA compliance, a fire official said. A memo went out regarding spending $150,000 ARPA dollars for gender-neutral bathrooms at the fire station. Some firefighters expressed that while they appreciate the funds and want to be inclusive, they’re still left with needs they feel are more pressing for their own safety, like fire detection and suppression in the dorms they sleep in every night, the report said.

The ARPA funds are going to create a separate living space and bathroom for a potential female employee should one be hired in the future, a city official said, according to the report.

No final decisions were made at Monday night’s city commission meeting; it’s expected to be discussed again as an action item at the November 21 meeting, the report said.