by Katie Orlando

DAVIDSON – Commissioners last week authorized Town Manager Leamon Brice to sign a new fire-service agreement with the Odell Volunteer Fire Department in Cabarrus Countylast week, expanding the agreement originally signed in March 2008.
Odell Fire originally agreed to provide fire protection services to Davidson properties in the Summers Walk development. Now, the department is responsible for property within five road miles of Odell Station 1 at 9051 Davidson Highway, Concord or Station 2 at 4240 Shiloh Church Road, Davidson, and more than five road miles from Davidson Fire Station, according to the contract.
Davidson agrees to pay “the approved district tax rate based upon the value of the property in the service territory,” according to the contract.
Davidson will pay $34,328.20, an increase from the $21,750 under the old agreement, for the service. The contingency budget will cover the difference, Brice said in an e-mail.
This contract will last until June 2021.
Re-signing the agreement only temporarily keeps Davidson from having to build a new fire station, Brice told commissioners at the Sept. 13 town meeting. Since Odell can terminate the agreement at any time, with enough notice for construction, Davidson needs to have plans in place.
Davidson’s Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the board of commissioners in August 2010, addresses the need for a new station. The town’s Insurance Services Organization deemed years ago that a new fire station was needed along Davidson-Concord Road or N.C. 73.
Odell Captain Jeremy Burris says the arrangement is mutually beneficial, and Odell helps Davidson out because they are able to, a common practice in the fire industry.
Fire departments are rated on insurance sales, and Burris says fire and home-owners insurance would be more expensive in the Summers Walk and River Run areas if there was not a fire station closer than Davidson’s only fire station is now.
“We agree to help them out and cover it, so their fire insurance stays the same as the rest of Davidson,” Burris said.
Davidson Fire Department still responds to calls in the areas that Odell has agreed to cover, Burris said, but Odell is there, also.