The Town of Essex is looking to hire a consultant to help construct a new fire station.
Town council approved a request for proposal (RFP) Tuesday night to bring hire a consultant to prepare architectural and engineering designs for fire station number #2.
Director of Community Services, Doug Sweet says the request is part of the Fire Master Plan that was discussed last year.
He says the town's goal is to build a new fire station at North Malden Rd. and County Rd. 15 to service Gesto, Essex Centre and McGregor.
Sweet says a new station was discussed during 2018 budget deliberations.
"At last budget, this is something they wanted to push forward," says Sweet. "We wanted to keep the process moving so the next step, probably in a couple months, we'll have that RFP ready to go."
In his reports, Chief Rick Arnel said response to Essex Centre would be improved with a new fire station.
He also stated response to McGregor will improve by four to five minutes and a new station would address deficiencies in the current station.
Station #2 is currently located at 2610 County Rd 12.