The state of the fire station off Martin Luther King Jr. Street in north Natchez is deplorable.

The building has been allowed to fall apart under the watch of clearly more than one city administration.

Currently the fire station has a list of problems that should make city leaders embarrassed that the men and women who serve us must live in such conditions.

We applaud the city’s efforts to start renovating the building, but are disappointed that the city has chosen to simply wait to see if a federal grant can help offset the costs of the renovations.

The building is in horrible shape now. Forcing firefighters to continue living in such conditions is disrespectful to firefighters.

Renovations should begin sooner, not later.

The responsibility for providing a good work environment for City of Natchez’s employees is the leadership of the city, not the federal government.

It’s time the city’s leadership leads on a problem that is relatively simple to fix — repair the building and make it a safer place in which firefighters can work.

Even if the city receives the grant for which it has applied, the city will still likely need to find approximately $250,000 in its budget for the match on the grant.

If city leaders decide to commit the proposed $250,000 match for the grant, we hope aldermen will strongly consider simply forgoing their own pay until the remainder of the renovation costs is covered. Such self-sacrifice is what real leaders do in times of crisis.