The cities of Red Bank and Soddy-Daisy both plan to make necessary upgrades using grants and donations recently received by each municipality.
Both received $25,250 grants from the Red Bank and Soddy-Daisy Charitable Foundation, established in 1990 when the Red Bank Hospital Association – a public charity created when the community hospital in Red Bank closed in 1976 – was reclassified as a private foundation. Each municipality has received more than $500,000 from the foundation since its inception, said Arnold Stulce, chairman of the foundation.
The foundation stipulated that Red Bank must use its grant, awarded at the city’s March 1 commission meeting, to enlarge the parking lot at White Oak Park and build a 250-foot sidewalk to connect the lot to the park.
The grant to the city of Soddy-Daisy must go toward funding the expansion of the current building, or the construction of a new building, for Fire Hall No. 3 on the south end of town, which Stulce stressed is a dire need when presenting the grant at the city’s March 3 commission meeting. He pointed out that a large portion of the property tax dollars used to fund the city’s fire service come from the businesses located on the south end.
The foundation has a long history of supporting fire services in the city, beginning with the purchase of Soddy-Daisy’s first fire engine for $175,000 in 1991. Starting in 2001, the foundation contributed annually to the funding for a new fire station completed in 2006 on the north end of town. And, to date, the foundation has contributed $175,000 to update Fire Hall No. 3, said Stulce.