Back in February, the Knoxville Community Fire Protection District Board of Trustees met to discuss the possibility of receiving grants or reimbursements for capital improvements to the Knoxville Fire Station. The Fire Protection Board of Trustees entered into an Inter-Governmental Agreement during the city council meeting on Monday, October 7th. The list of improvements to the station included: replacing and painting the wood trim on the pillars of the station, replacing the overhead doors with insulated doors, replacing wood paneling near the truck bay, and coating the floor with epoxy coating. “Those were the original furnaces to the building when it was rehabbed – over thirty years old,” said Don Moffitt, President of the Board of Trustees. “We had (the) grant to get new monitors (on the furnaces) that detect gas. In calibrating them, they went off an said we have carbon monoxide in the fire station at a very high level. One of the heat exchangers was cracked putting carbon monoxide out into the fire station. So that really became an emergency situation to get that done and fortunately, we were able to get them in.” The total cost for reimbursement in the agreement was nearly $65,000. Council approved all of the upgrades with the exception of the new epoxy floor until more research and bids came in. The final total for the agreement was $36,560.
Back in 2015, the Knoxville City Council approved $10,000 in Motel/Hotel Tax funds for a new sign at the Knox County Fairgrounds. The idea of the new sign was to replace the current, damaged sign that stands on the northeast corner of the fairgrounds property overlooking the intersection of County Highway 10 and Henderson Road. It was decided that the $10,000 could better be used for other repairs around the fairgrounds – plus $10,000 wasn’t nearly enough for a new sign. Fair Board Treasurer Darcy Thorp told the council that initially the plan was to install a new sign with a digital display. “We found a sign for $9,500,” Thorp said. “It’s rebuilt through Galesburg Sign Company. It’s got a new laptop. Once we saw that knowing that new signs were close to about $25,000 now, we thought we’d jump on this and try to get something. We think it’s a perfect location to welcome people into the city of Knoxville.” The fair board also acquired a metal base for the sign from the grade school in Oneida. Since the sign sits in the county, the city would have to use Hotel/Motel Tax dollars to fund it – not TIF funds. The council agreed that the desire for a new sign was there, but tabled the decision on purchasing it until the next city council meeting.
