photo by: Eric Ayres

The city of Wheeling flag flies below the American flag outside of the U.S. Army Reserve Center in the Clator neighborhood. The city is taking ownership of the vacated military police facility.

WHEELING — The city flag of Wheeling was hoisted over the vacant U.S. Army Reserve Center in the Clator section of the city this past week after city officials received the keys to the property.

The former center — known officially as the BG J Sumner Jones United States Army Reserve Center — for decades served as a military police headquarters for the 305th Military Police Company. The campus was vacated in 2020, and city officials have since been working behind the scenes to acquire the facility.

“Federal law sets up a process for first responder use of vacated federal property,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron explained.

The city has been working through the process of obtaining the federal property, and while the lengthy process is ongoing, the city will be able to use the facility — and there is an immediate need, Herron noted.

Because of the delay in the construction of the new $9 million Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters in East Wheeling — and the fact that the former fire headquarters in Center Wheeling had to be vacated because of the scheduled demolition of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage, the site will serve as a temporary location for fire department administrative offices and for other uses – both short-term and long-term.

“We were very fortunate to receive permission and the keys to utilize the Army Reserve Center in Clator for our fire department and our police department,” Herron said. “The center itself is in very, very good condition. We have complete use of the entire property.”

In December, the transfer of property from the federal government to the city of Wheeling was included in the Defense Spending Authorization Bill by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and signed by President Joe Biden.

Herron said the transfer process will include a 30-day permit to use the facility, followed by a lease to continue use of the property. Ultimately, the property will officially belong to the city.

“The Army is paying for 100% of the costs associated with that facility at least until the end of July,” Herron noted. “Not only will the fire department be able to use it from an administrative perspective, but I believe the fire chief is going to send a couple of companies out there that have been relocated from the headquarters to work out of that location. It will, in the long-term, serve as the maintenance facility for fire trucks.”

Officials noted that the U.S. Army Reserve Center is conveniently located right next door to the city’s Division of Operations complex in Clator.

Wheeling Fire Chief Jim Blazier and other administrative staff members from the fire department had moved out of the old Center Wheeling headquarters and into the former Wheeling Police Department’s space inside the City-County Building on a temporary basis while construction of the new fire headquarters continues. Some equipment that was housed inside the old fire headquarters was also relocated to other satellite fire stations in the city.

With the acquisition of the Army Reserve Center, however, the fire officials and the equipment can all move into that facility until the new fire headquarters opens later this year.

In the long-term, the former military police campus will be used for maintenance of the large fire trucks and other vehicles.

“We can get fire trucks into these buildings with the cabs tilted up, so now work that was being done outside will be able to be done inside,” Herron said. “Currently, that’s being done in Elm Grove, outside.”

The city manager noted that one of the components of the city’s public safety facilities improvement plan originally was to invest $1 million into upgrades to satellite fire stations throughout the city and to build a facility for maintenance of the trucks.

“That was going to be very expensive, and we had to cut that out of the process,” he explained. “Now with this facility, we will not have to go through that expenditure and will have a state-of-the-art facility to service not only our fire trucks but also to serve as storage for police vehicles, fire trailers and other public safety and first responder vehicles.”

Herron said Sen. Capito and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., helped city staff connect with the right people within the U.S. Army Reserve to acquire the site.

“I want to acknowledge and recognize Bill Lanham, the assistant city manager, who really birddogged this from day one and was relentless with the Army and made it through various stages from Washington, D.C., to New Jersey,” Herron said. “They were very excited with the opportunity once they understood it to accommodate this. We got this turned around very quickly.”

Once the fire chief and administrators move out of the temporary location inside the former police headquarters downtown, that vacant space will be used as a “swing space” for various city and county departments as the City-County Building undergoes its multimillion-dollar renovations beginning this year.

“It’s really a win-win situation,” Herron said, noting that the Army Reserve Center is in great condition. “It’s going to be a great facility for our first responders for many years to come, but particularly in the short-term. In the long term, it will be a real boon for our public safety forces for the city.”

There are three buildings on the Army Reserve campus in Clator. Herron noted that in the event of a natural disaster, portions of the site can be made available to National Guard and other forces that may be sent to the area to provide assistance and would need a staging area, headquarters or even sleeping quarters.

“Congratulations to everyone involved,” Herron said. “We are certainly excited, and thank the Army for their cooperation, as well as Sens. Manchin and Capito, the assistant city manager and the police and fire departments.”