Lawton’s Central Fire Station needs new money for conversion plan

Lawton officials will search for new ways to pay for upgrades at the historic Central Fire Station after the City Council decided last week that funds from the Capital Improvements Program could not be used.

It’s an issue city and fire officials have been debating for years. It took on new life in Spring 2023 with serious discussions about using $700,000 from the 2012 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) that had been earmarked for Central. When that CIP was developed, city officials planned to expand the station, but the focus quickly turned to moving Central’s fire crews to the new Lawton Public Safety Center. Central — Lawton’s first stand-alone fire station and a 1930s-era building on the National Register of Historic Places — remains operable as offices for the fire department’s highest-ranking administrators.

But fire officials have long planned to renovate Central space to make room for the fire marshal and training offices, with conceptual plans under development to convert what had been the second floor dormitory into office and meeting space. That plan was contingent upon using CIP funding, rolled over from the 2012 CIP to the new one. In May, council members questioned whether CIP funding could be used for the conversion, with one asking whether it would be better to move fire’s administrative staff into Lawton City Hall.

When Lawton’s bond counsel was asked if that plan was possible, the answer was no.

“We do not think it is advisable,” said bond counsel David Floyd, of the city plan to use the $700,000 remaining for Central Fire Station work to convert the old station.

Floyd said the ballot proposal specified $700,000 for the expansion of Central, with another $3.2 million allocated to the new public safety complex. He said the $3.2 million was spent as directed in the general obligations bonds resolution and those bonds have been paid off. The remaining $700,000 is unspent because state law strictly limits what bond proceeds may be spent on. Floyd said his firm also analyzed what the word “expansion” meant and what the public expected when they were told the funds would finance expansion of Central Fire Station, which included the addition of a fire bay. His firm also analyzed what will be done with the building now, and it’s not adding a new fire bay.

The bond counsel’s conclusion: it isn’t appropriate to use the $700,000 in remaining CIP funds to renovate Central Fire Station for administrative use. That means those funds should instead be used to pay off bond debt, which is allowed under state law, Floyd said. Acting City Attorney Tim Wilson said that means the city will apply the $700,000 to the sinking fund to pay off those CIP-related bonds.

Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren said the city was between a rock and a hard place.

“There is nothing else we can do,” he said, adding the funds will have to be applied to the existing sinking fund debt because they cannot be used for renovations.

Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton, who has been coordinating an effort to save Lawton’s historic buildings and sites, said council members must decide what they are going to do with Central.

“This building is on the National Register,” he said. “We want discussion of that in the future.”

Fire Chief Jared Williams said the department already obtained permission to move forward with plans for administrative conversion, and design discussions are underway. Williams said the fire department analyzed the idea of moving its administrators into Lawton City Hall (which is undergoing renovations to create new office space), but there isn’t enough room.

“We’re not leaving Central. It’s our home,” Williams said, adding the city needs to rebuild the station to provide more office space, and that means the fire department will search for new options.

“We need to start looking for ways to preserve this,” he said.