Mount Dora to propose change in fire station project at Monday meeting.

A city council work session is being called in Mount Dora on Monday, Aug. 22 at 10 a.m. at City Hall to discuss a proposed change of a project that is currently under construction, according to the city’s official website. The public is encouraged to attend or watch live-stream to learn more. 

According to Casey Forney with the Mount Dora Local 3088 Professional Firefighters Union, the proposal would change the use of a nearly-completed fire station that is set to replace Station 35 on the west side of Mount Dora. The city’s public information officer, Vershurn Ford, confirmed the meeting would indeed address this issue. 

“At this time, no decision as to facility exchanges have been made in regards to Fire Station 35, 3200 N Highway 19A,” Ford said in an official statement from the city. “With rising construction costs, inflation and limited budget, city staff have identified options to construct the city’s Public Works Warehouse Facility and Fire Station while remaining within the budgeted bond funds. The City of Mount Dora will hold a special work session in regards to facility usage and the current bonded construction projects. Staff will present an analysis of facility usage and current bonded construction projects and provide data for council’s consideration.”

Mount Dora currently operates two fire stations, Station 34 and Station 35, both which have been addressed in previous meetings to be beyond repair. The city received a bond in the amount of $21,740,000 in 2018 to address these issues, which included the construction of three new stations that would replace the former two and one additional station.

According to Forney, the new station that is currently being built on 19A across from Dora Cafe will be proposed to be given to another department and instead combine all fire personnel into one main fire station at a different location. 

“This causes multiple concerns for us,” Forney said. “We would no longer have a fire station on the west side of town. Response times would suffer, meaning taxpayers would now be waiting longer for us to show up during an emergency when just seconds can make the difference between life or death.”

The public is invited to attend or tune-in to the meeting on Monday. To watch live, visit the city’s website, https://ci.mount-dora.fl.us, and locate the following tab: Agendas, Minutes & Live Meetings. When a meeting is live, an icon will appear next to the name column. Click on the meeting name to watch.