With an uncertain financial future highlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Mehlville Fire Protection District has a deficit budget for the first time in many years. The MFPD Board of Directors unanimously passed a $24.18 million budget for 2021 that has a $1.41 million deficit.
“Not a lot went our way when developing this budget, so you’re going to see kind of a recurring theme and that’s that ‘Hey, that didn’t go our way,’” said Chief Financial Officer Brian Bond at the Dec. 23 board meeting.
The fire district may have some tough financial challenges ahead, the CFO noted.
“While many factors worked against the 2021 budget, the good news is that residents of the district are receiving an enhanced level of service. 2022 will be a reassessment year which will hopefully provide additional tax revenue,” Bond said. “But it’s important for us to note that future budgets will be faced with similar challenges. Unfortunately the level of expenses we’re at,
Fire agencies from throughout the area responded over the weekend to a fire at the vacant building at 11500 Concord Village Ave. that was once Eime Hardware store and more recently a pawn shop, but the fire was contained with no major property damage or injuries to anyone.
A call came in to the Mehlville Fire Protection District around noon Saturday, Feb. 20, for smoke coming from the vacant building, which is next to Dave’s Diner, Sunshine Daydream and Heyde Sewing Machine Company. Crews began attacking the fire, which was on a mezzanine at the back of the 9,500-square-foot structure.
The incident commander requested a second alarm, which leads to backup from other fire departments, due to the extremely cold weather conditions, said Mehlville Fire Assistant Chief Dan LaFata. Among the multiple agencies responding were Affton and Fenton.
The St. Louis County Department of Public Health is planning to open two vaccine sites in South County and one in Eureka, in addition to the mass vaccination site set to open Wednesday in Ferguson.
The county announced Tuesday it is working with several regional fire/EMS districts to provide additional vaccine center locations on top of two already announced in North County.
Appointments for vaccines at Mehlville, Affton and Eureka fire districts will begin this Thursday, Feb. 4, from the preregistration list the county has. The county said as of Tuesday it is still working with more fire/EMS partners to stand up additional local sites around the county.
Candidate filing closed Tuesday for a number of governmental positions that are up for election April 6, setting up several competitive races across South County. One of the trends this year is that many incumbents did not file to run again, so there are a number of new faces across local city and school boards.
The Mehlville fire board and the Green Park mayoral seat will see competitive races this year. Incumbent fire board Treasurer Bonnie Stegman is being challenged by a former firefighter.
Aldermanic seats in Crestwood, Green Park and Sunset Hills are also up for election, along with three seats on the Grantwood Village Board of Trustees. Green Park and Crestwood will have a number of new faces on the Board of Aldermen, but no competitive races, while Sunset Hills will have competitive races in all four wards. And for the first time in recent memory, Grantwood Village will have competitive races.
Five people were injured in a house fire Sunday morning in South County, with four of them two children and two adults transported to area hospitals, with one child critically injured.
St. Louis County Police officers from the South County Precinct responded to a call for a house fire at roughly 9:40 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, in the 700 block of Regina Avenue in Lemay.
The house was on fire when officers arrived. The Lemay Fire Protection District, Mehlville Fire Protection District, Affton Fire Protection District and the St. Louis Fire Department responded to the scene and put out the fire.
Five people were inside the home. One 7-year-old child was taken to a local hospital with injuries that police described as critical but non-life threatening. An 18-month-old child and two adult men were taken to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, according to police. One adult woman had minor injuries and was not transported by paramedics.