The city of Joplin will be constructing its 7th fire department. On Monday night, the Joplin city council voted 8 in favor, with one council member absent, to approve the new 4.5 million dollar department constructed in the southeast portion of the city, next to the Casey’s Distribution Center, and near the intersection of Interstates 44 and 49.

Director of Joplin’s Public Works Dan Johnson headed the project; he spoke Monday night, “Bids were received and opened on May 18th, and we received three bids, with RE Smith Construction company being the lowest responsive bidder. That bid was approximately 9.2 percent over the architect’s estimate.”

This project has its roots back to 2007 when Joplin residents passed a public safety sales tax to construct the Eastside station.

Six years ago, the city purchased two acres to build the station. The new fire station will be completed by the end of August next year.