A years-long process of building tornado shelters in all of Warren County’s public parks took a step toward completion Friday.

Warren County Fiscal Court voted unanimously to accept a $619,456 bid from Sunbelt Construction to build shelters at Ed Spear Park in Smiths Grove and Phil Moore Park near Alvaton.

The shelters, which will hold about 300 people and withstand winds of up to 250 mph, will be paid for largely through a hazardous mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Brian Geringswald, deputy director of the Warren County Emergency Management Office, explained the FEMA grant will pay 75 percent of the cost of the shelters, or $464,592. Another 12 percent will come from state funds, and fiscal court will pay the remaining 13 percent ($80,529).

“Thirteen percent of the cost is a little amount to invest to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Geringswald said.

He explained the county started applying for the FEMA grants in 2009 and got its first grant in 2011.

Using that grant money, two shelters each have already been built at Basil Griffin, Buchanon and Ephram White parks. Ed Spear and Phil Moore parks will be getting one shelter apiece in this new round of funding. Unlike the previous tornado shelters, the new ones will be equipped with restrooms.

“Due to the park size and the terrain, there’s really only room for one shelter at each park,” Geringswald said. “They will be used primarily as tornado shelters, but they also give park patrons and staff a place to go in any severe weather event.”

In other action Friday, magistrates voted unanimously to approve on first reading an interlocal agreement with Simpson County that will allow the Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department to become the primary response agency for a portion of Simpson County.

The agreement will allow some 250 households in northern Simpson County to have closer access to fire protection, thus improving their insurance rates that are determined by the Insurance Service Organization rating.

“There is a need in the northern part of our county, where some homes are more than five miles away from any of our fire stations,” said Leslie Goodrum, chief of Franklin-Simpson Fire Rescue. “They have to be within five miles of a fire station to get the best rating. This has the potential to save them considerable amounts of money.”

Bob Skipper, chief of the Woodburn VFD, said this new arrangement will formalize what has long been an agreement between the two fire departments.

“We’ve worked together for years,” he said. “We’re in the business of helping people, and this is a way of doing that.”

The agreement will also have benefits for the Woodburn VFD, which will be able to collect dues money from those northern Simpson County residents.

Goodrum explained that residents in that area of Simpson County will have a $50 fire department dues item added to their annual tax bill, although they will be able to opt out of paying the dues. The amount collected will go to the Woodburn VFD.

“I think this will be a win-win,” Goodrum said. “It will help with response times in that part of the county, and it will help the Woodburn Fire Department financially.”

Skipper expects the agreement to bring an extra $10,000 or more into his fire department annually. Some of that money can go to replace a 2007 pumper that has been declared surplus property.

“We hope to get $80,000 or so out of that one,” said Skipper, who expects a new pumper to cost about $350,000.

At Friday’s meeting, fiscal court approved the purchase from Wright Implement of two four-wheel-drive Gator utility vehicles at a total cost of $38,820.26. Warren County Parks and Recreation Director Chris Kummer explained that the vehicles will be used at Buchanon and Ephram White parks, replacing aging vehicles.

The magistrates also accepted a bid of $44,213 annually for a three-year contract with Lawn Doctor of Bowling Green to provide fertilization and aeration services at county parks, and they accepted a 24-month, $45,220 contract with Caveland Environmental of Cave City to provide portable toilet services at county parks.