Teton commissioners to weigh MOU talks for donor-backed Gros Ventre fire station

Teton County commissioners are scheduled March 9 to decide whether to direct staff to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with the Friends of the Gros Ventre Fire Station, a nonprofit proposing a donor-funded partnership to build a new volunteer “Station 8” in the North Gros Ventre area. The proposed site is 947 Sand Cherry Way on county-owned land, and the nonprofit says it can raise and donate $8 million for planning, design, permitting, construction, furnishing and equipment.

Fire/EMS staff’s workshop memo frames the decision as whether the county should explore the partnership through an MOU, with the county ultimately owning and operating the station and volunteers staffing it once built. Staff also note that their “Standards of Cover” analysis found the Gros Ventre area has extended response times and would benefit from additional service, but cautions that county resources may also be needed in other parts of the county.

While construction is characterized as an $8–$10 million facility (with the private fundraising proposal at $8 million), staff flag county costs beyond the build: about $1.74 million in initial startup costs for personnel, apparatus and equipment, plus roughly $105,000 per year in ongoing volunteer-station expenses, as well as significant staff time for coordination, recruiting and training. (The staff report estimates a 16% increase in departmental effort spread across training, operations, administration and fleet.)

Commissioners’ discussion is set up as a workshop item with a suggested motion to direct negotiation of an MOU; any eventual agreement and budget commitments would come back for future commission action. Source: Gros Ventre Fire Station Feasibility Staff Report.