Now school is out of session the Clarkdale-Jerome School District may sell a part of its property to the Verde Valley Fire District for its new fire station.
The CJSD Governing Board approved official discussions on May 12.
VVFD voters approved a bond in November to allocate about $7 million for constructing a new station in Clarkdale in its $10 million Phase 1. The remaining $3 million in the bond is for miscellaneous infrastructure upgrades and contingency for those projects.
The $5.5 million Phase 2 would include health and safety improvements for stations 31 and 32 in Cottonwood and Cornville, respectively.
The eight acres between Clarkdale-Jerome School’s baseball field and the intersection of State Route 89A and Clarkdale Parkway belong to the school, and is only currently used for a small mountain bike track.
Safety
“From my standpoint … the biggest piece would be to have a public safety building surrounding a portion” of the school, CJSD Superintendent Matt Schumacher, Ed.D., said.
In April 2025, then-22-year-old Micah Hines walked through the seldom-used parcel to the Clarkdale-Jerome School bathrooms, where he hid and attempted to videotape young girls and kidnap a student.
Hines was arrested after a short manhunt. According to court documents, on April 17, 2026, Hines was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to nine felony charges and one misdemeanor, including attempt to commit kidnapping per dangerous crime against children in the second degree, burglary in the third degree, attempt to commit surreptitious photographing, videotaping, filming or digitally recording, attempt to commit voyeurism, aggravated assault and interference with or disruption of an educational institution.
Having a fire station on the parcel, which would be manned 24/7, would drastically decrease the risk for another similar event, Schumacher said.
Sale
From the Verde Valley Fire District’s perspective, it’s a promising start with a real “potential for a win-win situation” between the public entities, VVFD Fire Chief Danny Johnson said.
Schumacher said the biggest hurdle he sees in the discussions are the lack of utilities and water lines throughout the property.
Legally, the property must be sold for fair market value, he said, which the district will determine while the discussions are ongoing.
The school district would be able to use the sale money only for capital funds, which would help the school as it has very little bonding capacity, Schumacher said. Largely, he said the money would help update and replace aging HVAC systems.
There’s still a lot unknown, though, Johnson said. The two entities are still in very early stages of discussions.
VVFD, which approved its last preliminary budget before it merges with Copper Canyon Fire & Medical District during its May 26 meeting, allotted $400,000 for property acquisition before then.
While the school district’s property seems the most likely, it’s still possible VVFD would go for a different location.
Construction
Finding a good station is tough, Johnson said, and it “starts with the dirt.”
If the soil is too toxic or too hard to dig through, it can eat up a lot of initial construction costs.
“We plan to do our own research to make sure we’re spending our tax dollars wisely,” Johnson said.
The other problem with building a fire station is making sure response time isn’t obstructed. There are a lot of roundabouts along State Route 89A heading toward Clarkdale from Cottonwood, Johnson said, and the highway has a median. If the station is built in the wrong spot, the fire engines might have to drive a block or two in the wrong direction before being able to turn around.
One positive aspect of the school district’s available property is that it extends directly to the roundabout, which means fire engines could go in any direction without needing to backtrack.
“For a fire station, you need a minimum of two acres,” Johnson said. “Some other sites were an odd shape … or too small.”
They were about 1.5 or 1.9 acres, he said, and “not very usable.”
Johnson said he plans to have discussions with Schumacher throughout the summer while the district does its own research, with hopes to have an idea whether the property would be suitable for a fire station by the time school resumes in the fall.
Once that’s done, assuming VVFD decides to buy any of the school district’s land, it would likely be about six months of planning and designing to finalize a budget for the project.
“Once we have a budget, we can begin construction, which, for a fire station, on average takes nine to 10 months,” Johnson said.
Old Station
VVFD currently leases its Clarkdale station from the town, which began use as a fire station in 2016 after the Clarkdale Fire District merged with VVFD. Its lease runs through 2031.
“It will go back to the town after we’re done,” VVFD Fire Chief Danny Johnson said.
