Orange Beach Firefighter Grant Would Buy 75 Breathing Units; GOMESA Clubhouse Also Up

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — An Orange Beach firefighter grant worth $757,711 would replace Orange Beach Fire and Rescue’s aging breathing gear, and it was one of two major grants on the agenda for the Orange Beach City Council’s joint meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20, alongside a $1.5 million GOMESA award for a shooting complex clubhouse.

The council scheduled a combined Regular Council Meeting and Committee of the Whole session for 5 p.m. Tuesday in the council chambers at Orange Beach City Hall. Councilors also planned a 9 a.m. work session in City Hall’s south conference room to discuss the city’s 2027 budget and review items on the evening agenda.

The two grants headlined a lengthy agenda that also included a road elevation project, a geotechnical study for a proposed civic center, an appointment to the regional tourism board, renovations at the city’s aquatics center and three new traffic signals on Canal Road.

New breathing gear for Orange Beach firefighters

City officials say the self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA, units now used by Orange Beach Fire and Rescue are at “the end of life” and need to be replaced.

The Fiscal Year 2025 Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would cover $757,711 of the $795,597 total cost to buy 75 new SCBA units. The city’s required 5% local match comes to $37,885.

The purchase includes:

• 75 SCBA units, each with a harness, a facepiece and two air tanks
• 21 additional facepieces
• Six complete rapid intervention team packs

SunbeltFire of Fairhope would supply the equipment. The grant acceptance was slated for a vote during the regular session.

SCBA is the air-supply system firefighters wear on their backs when entering burning buildings or other places where smoke, toxic gases or a lack of oxygen make the air unsafe to breathe. A typical unit includes a compressed-air cylinder, a harness, a regulator and a full facepiece. Rapid intervention team packs are specialized kits carried by crews assigned to rescue firefighters who become trapped, lost or run low on air inside a structure.

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant program is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. It provides competitive grants to fire departments and emergency medical service organizations for equipment, protective gear, training and other needs. Local cost-share requirements are based on population, and smaller communities such as Orange Beach pay a lower percentage than larger cities.

$1.5 million GOMESA grant for shooting complex clubhouse

The council was also set to consider accepting a $1.5 million Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act grant through an agreement with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The money would support construction of a clubhouse at the city’s shooting complex on Russian Road.

In a related item, the council was to consider a task order with Scarlett Sadler Group LLC, doing business as Civil Southeast, for land surveying services for the clubhouse and a first responder safe room at the shooting range site, at a cost not to exceed $10,590. A separate professional services agreement with Civil Southeast for general civil engineering and land surveying services was also on the agenda.

GOMESA, enacted by Congress in 2006, shares a portion of federal revenue from offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf with the four producing states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Part of each state’s share flows to coastal counties and cities. The money is intended for purposes such as coastal conservation and restoration, hurricane protection and mitigation of the effects of offshore energy activity. In Alabama, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources administers the state’s share and awards it to local projects.

Roads, civic center and building projects

Several infrastructure and construction items were on the agenda, including:

• Jubilee Point Road elevation: A grant award contract with the Baldwin County Commission for $950,000 to raise Jubilee Point Road.
• Proposed civic center: A task order with GeoCon Engineering & Materials Testing Inc., not to exceed $16,300, for geotechnical testing and a final engineering report on the site of a proposed new civic center. The site is near the PowerSouth electrical substation on the south side of Canal Road, near the city’s library.
• Old finance building: A GeoCon task order of up to $10,000 for special inspections and materials testing during the renovation of the old finance building at the corner of Orange Beach Boulevard and West Oak Ridge Drive.
• Aquatics center: A Phase I construction administration contract with Lose of Tennessee PLLC, not to exceed $274,000, for the Orange Beach Aquatics Center renovation project, one of the city’s ongoing capital improvement efforts.
• Canal Road traffic signals: A GeoCon task order of up to $8,695 for geotechnical testing and engineering for three new traffic signals at the intersection of Canal Road with Wharf Parkway East on the north side and Money Bayou Drive on the south side.

Geotechnical testing examines soil and subsurface conditions at a site before construction, helping engineers design foundations and determine whether the ground can support a planned structure. In coastal areas such as Orange Beach, where soils can be sandy or saturated, that work is an important early step on major building projects.

Board appointments and tourism board seat

The council also had several appointments to consider.

The three-year terms of Linda Bradley and Ryan Long on the city’s Board of Adjustment ended Sept. 24, and a resolution on the agenda would reappoint both of them. The Board of Adjustment hears requests for variances from zoning rules and appeals of zoning decisions.

The council was also asked to fill the seat on the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism Board of Directors vacated by Penny Groux. The term for that seat runs through September 2029. In a letter, Glen Kaiser of the tourism board’s board of directors submitted four names for the council’s consideration:

• David Mars of Margaritaville
• Steve Meyer of Innisfree Hotels
• Hunter Harrelson of Beachball Properties, who is the husband of Councilwoman Ginger Harrelson
• Ryan Patel of A&R Development

Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism markets the two beach cities as a vacation destination. Tourism is the backbone of the local economy, with visitors drawn to the area’s beaches, fishing, golf, attractions and events throughout the year.

Emergency planning and public safety

Beyond the firefighter grant, the agenda carried several items related to emergency preparedness.

The council was to consider a memorandum of understanding with Columbia Southern University, the online university based in Orange Beach, allowing the city to use the school’s facilities as an evacuation location during emergencies.

Councilors were also asked to adopt the 2026 Baldwin County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan meets the requirements of the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and FEMA’s local hazard mitigation planning rules. Communities generally must have a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan to remain eligible for certain federal mitigation grant programs. The plans identify the natural hazards a community faces, such as hurricanes, flooding and storm surge, and lay out strategies to reduce the risk of damage.

Budget, contracts and community events

The council also had a range of financial and administrative items before it:

• Bills: Paying $952,862 for goods and services from Oct. 9 to Oct. 21.
• 2026 budget amendment: A resolution amending the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, increasing overall revenue projections by $1 million because of expense adjustments made throughout the year.
• Stop-loss insurance: Purchasing stop-loss insurance for fiscal year 2027. Stop-loss coverage is commonly used by employers that self-fund health benefits, protecting them against unusually large claims.
• Public relations: Renewing an agency agreement with JJPR LLC for public relations and marketing services at $2,500 a month. The current one-year contract ends Nov. 4.
• Auditing: An agreement with Rivertree Systems Inc. for auditing services.
• Senior Center copier: A rental agreement with Sharp Electronics Corp. for a copier at the Senior Center through the state bid list.
• Spring theater: Professional services agreements with J.F. Morris Performance LLC for $12,350 and Heidi Lemon for $7,540 for the city’s 2027 spring theater production.
• Tinsel Trail: A performance agreement with the Garner C. Tampary Memorial Foundation Inc. for the fourth annual Merry Memories Tinsel Trail at Waterfront Park.
• Sea turtle facility: Awarding a bid for medical equipment for the Coastal Alabama Sea Turtle Facility, located near the Cotton Bayou Trailhead of the Backcountry Trail on State Route 161. Bids were scheduled to be opened Oct. 29.

Unlike most small governments in Alabama, which run fiscal years from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, Orange Beach and neighboring Gulf Shores operate on a calendar-year budget. That is why the council is amending its 2026 budget and preparing its 2027 budget during the fall.

What happens next

The firefighter grant and the other regular-session items were set for votes Tuesday evening, while the Committee of the Whole portion gave councilors a chance to discuss additional items. Final action on each item will be reflected in the city’s official meeting minutes.

If the council accepts the firefighter grant, the city can move forward with buying the new breathing equipment through SunbeltFire. The GOMESA award and surveying work would allow planning to continue on the shooting complex clubhouse and safe room on Russian Road.

Orange Beach City Council meetings are open to the public. Agendas, minutes and meeting information are posted on the City of Orange Beach website, and residents can attend in person at City Hall.