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County seeks control of closed fire station

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published November 4, 2005

SEFFNER - Last month, the county shut down the Seffner-Mango Volunteer Fire Station on Kingsway Road, citing a mold problem and "ethical problems" with the staff.

All that was left was a stripped-down building, without firefighters or fire trucks.

Now, the county wants the volunteers to give up control of the empty building that they own.

In an Oct. 6 letter, County Administrator Patricia Bean asked that the volunteer board "consider transferring ownership" of the building at 1706 S Kingsway Road.

"If they would deed it over to the county, we'd be more than happy to take it, and we'd demolish it and put a new station in there," Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said.

Neither Yeakley nor Bean has heard a response from the volunteers, they said.

Volunteer chief Bradly Price called the request "ludicrous."

"I kinda snickered at it," he said. "I think it's amusing. They give out all these reasons (why the station has to close) and then they turn around and say, "Give it to us."'

The September shutdown came as a surprise to the volunteers. County fire Chief William Nesmith simply showed up, announced the station was closed and started hauling away the county's vehicles and equipment.

The move capped months of tension between the volunteer station and the county that began in April, when Price was accused of sexually harassing a fellow volunteer and of posting nude pictures of himself on an Internet dating site.

Price quit before discipline hearings could be held. But by July he was back, first as chair of the volunteer board, then appointing himself "administrative chief" of the station.

Nesmith told Price to cease and desist. Price ignored the order. Then came the shutdown.

Nesmith announced that he was forming a new Seffner-Mango Volunteer Fire Department, to be run by the county, not by the volunteers.

But he had no place to put the new station.

For a while, the station was housed in a Little League building on Kingsway, south of the old volunteer station. Then, volunteers squeezed into a two-bedroom house at the corner of Cactus and Kingsway roads. County commissioners approved leasing the property for $800 a month.

"It's not an ideal situation," Yeakley said. "But they are people who can adapt to the situation."

Eventually, he said, the county will build a new permanent volunteer station. He said the department might buy the land on Cactus Road to build there. But they would also like the option of putting a new station where the old one stands.

Meanwhile, former volunteers aren't allowed to enter the old station - which the volunteer board owns - because the building has no certificate of occupancy.

Price said he never got a certificate of occupancy when he oversaw the building's construction about seven years ago.

"It never crossed my mind," he said. "We just did it. The fire department knew we were doing it." Yeakley said he knew Price might be less than pleased with the idea of turning over the station he built.

"Obviously, they aren't really happy about the whole situation," Yeakley said of the volunteers. "So for them to be forgiving and give something to the county. ... Probably not. But you don't really know what change of heart they might have at the last minute."

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 08:48:08]