A local mayor is spearheading a petition that would keep the Seat Pleasant Volunteer Fire Company’s staff in the city limits and close to its older homes and seniors instead of moving them to a new Prince George’s-owned station planned just more than a mile away.

Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene Grant launched the petition Feb. 4, and a team of about five residents are going from door-to-door in the city asking residents for their signatures.

The petition, which the city eventually will present to County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, is in response to county fire/EMS plans to relocate the Seat Pleasant’s station staff at 6305 Addison Road to a new $5.4 million station at Shady Glen Drive and Central Avenue as early as 2014.

Although the new station would still serve his city, Grant’s goal is to keep the volunteers in the community regardless of the new facility. Response times to the city limits from the new location could increase by two to four minutes, said Seat Pleasant volunteer Chief Kevin Brenner.

“We’re forging on,” Grant said. “We’re not going to let any grass grow. We’re going to continue to fight for this invaluable resource in our community.”

Brenner said he was aware of the petition and he is thrilled about Grant and the City Council’s continued support of the station.

“I think his proposal is very generous and it demonstrates a sincere desire to see the Seat Pleasant Fire Department remain an integral part of Seat Pleasant city life,” Brenner said.

As of press time, Grant was not able to confirm the total number of signatures so far, but said his goal is to have at least 1,000 signatures before sending to Baker. He said with the exception of one resident he met who was not in favor of the petition, most residents were practically “snatching” the petition out of their hands to sign.

During a Seat Pleasant city special session Jan. 20 with City Council members, Grant and county fire officials such as County Fire Chief Marc Bashoor, Grant requested data on how much money the county has given to the Seat Pleasant Volunteer Fire Company in the past five years and said he was promised to get the information a week from then but as of press time had yet to receive it.

Grant requested the statistics because of his proposal of a municipal takeover of the existing station, requesting five years to raise money from the day the new station opens on Shady Glen Drive and at the end of five years having the city fund fire and ambulance services to Seat Pleasant residents and businesses. The station still would be able to dispatch calls during the five years of fundraising under Grant’s proposal.

“We can’t really say we’re going to take over something when we don’t know what it costs,” Grant said. “We haven’t gotten a cost.”

Bashoor still is waiting on the information he promised Grant but Mark Brady, a county fire/EMS spokesman, said gathering those statistics “is not a simple process” and that he will deliver it as soon as it is done.

Bashoor did not know about the petition drive but said it is a way to demonstrate support for Seat Pleasant residents and that he endorses the process as a way to engage the community, Brady wrote in an email to The Gazette.

County Councilwoman Karen R. Toles (D-Dist. 7) of Suitland said she was not made aware of the petition, nor did she know about the Jan. 20 session that included Grant, the City Council and Bashoor.

She said that she is in support of whatever keeps the Seat Pleasant community safe, but wants to talk with Grant, Baker and Bashoor about what services possibly can remain at the station. Toles said if it’s a matter of appropriating money in the county’s budget, conversations would need to take place soon because the Prince George’s County Council is scheduled to start reviewing the county budget by March 15.

Toles said that even though the Seat Pleasant volunteers own their fire station, Bashoor still will need to evaluate if it is fiscally responsible for the county to continue to route calls there if there are other stations that are close in proximity such as the Capitol Heights Volunteer Fire Station one mile away from the Seat Pleasant city limits.

There are 50 active-duty volunteers and 10 county career personnel who staff the station, Brenner said. The station handled 7,807 calls for service in 2011, including 4,200 calls for the station’s ambulance.

“Personally I do want to support the community and have the fire station be able to stay in Seat Pleasant,” Toles said. “What I’m trying to do now is figure out how that is feasible. The county has already purchased the land for the new fire station on Shady Glen [Drive]. They’ve been in design meetings on this fire station. A lot has taken place.”

nmcgill@gazette.net