County Commissioners unanimously expressed approval for a proposal to open Fire Station No. 9 during Monday morning's Board of Commissioners work session.

Fire Chief Cedric Scott said the county would be able to open the recently built Fire Station No. 9 with existing manpower within the department's current budget by staying with the current practice of having three personnel per engine or unit instead of going to four personnel per unit.

Scott said he'd like to see the station start responding to calls as soon as possible.

Fire Station No. 9, on Walker Road, was built along with Fire Station No. 6 on Hurst Road, using 2004 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds. The county had not been able to staff the station, which was finished in 2009. The additional stations were reportedly built to help maintain the county's Insurance Services Organization rating.

The proposal was presented along with the report from the ISO rating consultants. The ISO is a for-profit entity that rates the fire preparedness of counties and municipalities that business and homeowners insurance rates are based on.

Check back to www.rockdalenews.com for more information later today.