York City's historic Rex/Laurel fire station to get major upgrades

York City's historic Rex/Laurel Fire Station is about to get a significant makeover.

On Tuesday, the City Council signed off on a $35,000 contract for architectural and engineering services for the project. Officials already approved $750,000 worth of COVID-19 aid funding toward the renovations.

Fire Chief William Sleeger said the fire station hasn't been significantly renovated since its construction — in 1877.

"The station needs to have the windows replaced, which some are the original glass from when it was built," he said.

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Sleeger said the project's designed to bring the station up to modern building code standards. That includes new utilities, a generator and a modern-day kitchen and duty office.

For now, at least, the city doesn't have a firm timetable for when the project will be completed.

It's one of many projects that has been supported by the City Council in the past few months using its $35.3 million allotment of federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The question of how to spend this money proved controversial — even resulting in a down-to-the-wire budget process in December — but the council's ultimate plans for the money bore many similarities to the plan put forward by Mayor Michael Helfrich.

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Rex/Laurel is one of the oldest continually operating fire houses in the country. The project has also received $1.5 million from the state's Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program as part of renovations to the city's fire stations.

— Reach Matt Enright via email at menright@yorkdispatch.com or via Twitter at @Matthew_Enright.