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City Council Approves Fire Truck Funding

The Glasgow City Council approved the financing of a used fire truck for up to $500,000 on Monday night. G.F.D. holds $145,000 in its coffers which it intends to use to supplement the purchase.

The proposed model for which the Department will now search is a Quint – a truck equipped with a pump, water tank, fire hose, aerial device, and ground ladders. At the meeting, Brandon Brunelle quoted the price of a new Quint as $800,000 – hence the focus on used engine options – and cites lower maintenance costs and a lower purchase price as the reasons for scouring the ladder truck market as opposed to parsing the classifieds for a platform truck.

Brunelle also noted the relatively low increase in utility if the department were to buy a platform truck instead of a Quint, considering the short height of most Glasgow structures and innate survival instinct enabling the elderly or disabled to descend a ladder if emergency were to dictate it a necessity.

“The ladder would be the quicker option,” said Brunelle, a sentiment which applies in equal measure to crisis response time and the additional hours it would take to raise the money necessary to buying the more expensive model.

The council tabled discussions over how the city will come by the funding money until its next meeting, when Intercap lending data will be ready and available for the council’s scrutiny.

“The city council will continue to look at special assessments [among other] different options to fund [this],” said Mayor Becky Erickson.

She went on to briefly discuss the possible means of determining the special assessment taxation method, based upon the size or price of each city lot. “It gives us options [to look over],” said Erickson on the benefit of waiting until next session to formulate a fiscal plan.

The current city-owned fire truck will itself not be clear of the liabilities column on the annual balance sheet until 2019.

Also discussed were the reappointment of Sean Heavey to the Glasgow Library’s board (approved), the Downtown Revitalization Plan (approved), the sanctioning of Drew Wooley, a convicted felon, to join the fire department (not seconded), and the annexation of real property into the city – Resolution no. 1981 – as petitioned by Farm Equipment Sales, Inc. (approved).

 

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