A former senior center on the western side of Limestone County will soon be converted into an ambulance substation for Athens-Limestone Hospital in order to better serve that side of the county.

The Limestone County Commission voted unanimously during its meeting Monday, Nov. 1, to convey one acre of land at the corner of U.S. 72 and Blackburn Road to the Health Care Authority of Athens and Limestone County, which does business as ALH.

District 3 Commissioner Jason Black said he has been trying to figure out how to get a satellite station for ambulance service on the west side of the county for three years. He said the building once housed Blackburn Center and was formerly owned by the Limestone County Board of Education.

“We took it over from the BOE and worked the deed out,” Black said before the Commission’s vote on the resolution. “I’ve met with people from the hospital, and they would like to accept (the property) to provide ambulance service for the whole county, but at least we have a station out there. If they are on site, it’s closer for the Clements, Owens, Reed and Huntsville-Browns Ferry areas.”

Black said he was excited to be able to bring the resolution before the Commission.

Commission Chairman Colin Daly said seconds in an emergency are “lifesaving.”

“I want to thank everybody’s efforts to work this out,” he said.

Redistricting map

One of the biggest issues to come before the Commission at its previous meeting was a plan to redistrict Limestone County into equal portions. The notion received a lot of feedback from the public, especially members of the NAACP representing Black residents in District 3.

A resolution to vote on a district map was originally on the agenda for the Nov. 1 meeting, but Daly said no action would be taken on the map “today.” He and other commissioners listened to a number of public speakers at the work session preceding the meeting and assured them the Commission welcomed feedback from the public and had no desire to decrease representation for any residents.