Daphne Search and Rescue is getting a new headquarters, after the Daphne City Council approved a pair of resolutions during its Monday, July 20 meeting to fund construction of a new building for the volunteer group.
The council determined that the organization’s current facility at 616 Belrose Ave., located near City Hall, is no longer needed for public or municipal purposes. The new building will instead be constructed adjacent to Fire Station No. 1 at 25250 Bailey Yelding Jr. Drive, property the search and rescue team will lease from the city. The new site is expected to offer significantly more room for storage and office space than the group’s current home.
The first resolution awarded the construction contract to Youngblood-Barrett Construction & Engineering, valued at $464,636. The second resolution transferred $328,003 from the city’s General Fund into its Capital Reserve Fund to help cover the project, which carries a total estimated cost of $527,468. City documents show Daphne has already sold the Belrose Avenue property, netting $199,465 in proceeds that will go toward construction of the new facility.
Daphne Search and Rescue has served the community since it was incorporated in 1976. The all-volunteer nonprofit responds to water search and rescue calls across roughly 300 square miles of area waterways, including the northern half of Mobile Bay and the Five Rivers Delta, and also provides land-based search and rescue support for Daphne and neighboring communities. Volunteer rescue squads like this one play a critical role along the Gulf Coast, where local fire departments and law enforcement often rely on trained water-rescue crews and specialized equipment, such as sonar systems, to respond to boating accidents, drownings and missing-person searches on the bay and delta.
Daphne Mayor Robin LeJeune said the new facility reflects the city’s appreciation for the group’s work and could open the door to closer coordination with the fire department.
“We feel it’s important that we take care of them,” LeJeune said. “Building them this new building, a facility they can put their equipment in out of the weather, maintain it better and have a place that they can call home that is right next door to our fire station, so maybe we can get some cross training and helping and that type of thing, so it’s a win-win for the city.”
Placing the new building next to Fire Station No. 1 is intended to foster closer ties between the two organizations, potentially allowing for shared training exercises and a faster, more coordinated response when water emergencies arise on Mobile Bay or in the surrounding delta system.