By John Estridge
Liberty Town Council President Matt Barnhizer opened four bids for a new, used tanker truck for the Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department at the Monday, March 1 LTC meeting.
The four bids ranged from $74,900 to $109,000.
The township part of the Liberty Volunteer Fire Department needs a new, used tanker for various reasons with one of the main ones being the firefighters do not know how much longer the tank part of the truck will last due to corrosion.
Barnhizer said there were two bids in each of the two sealed envelopes sent to the town after the town published a request for bids. All of the four trucks stated in the bids were for a 3,000-gallon tank, diesel engine, air brakes, stainless steel tanks and automatic transmissions.
The first two were from Fenton Fire Equipment of Portage. The first was for a 1998 International with 36,992 miles for $89,000. The other from that company was for a 1994 Spartan with 31,000 miles for $74,900.
The next two were from New England Fire Equipment and Apparatus of North Haven, Connecticut. Its first one is a 1997 Freightliner 49,000 repainted in 2020 for $109,000, and the second is a 1997 International with $79,900. Barnhizer did not give a mileage for the last truck.
Marc Ross, the chairman of the tanker committee with the fire department, requested and received permission for the committee to go over the bids. Council member Keith Bias suggested the committee put the bid finalists in descending order of preference in its recommendation to council in case one or more of the trucks are sold before the town can get financing in order.
Clerk/Treasurer Melissa Shepler said whatever way is agreed upon as a funding apparatus, it will involve an additional appropriation, which has to be published before the additional appropriation public hearing. The reason for this is the money for the truck was not appropriated in the town’s 2021 budget.
There are many different avenues the fire department can use to fund the tanker. It can take all of the money out of the Township Fire Fund. It has at least $88,000 per year going into that account. It is from the fire contracts the fire department signs with the township trustees. Also, any fire fees for the department responding to fires outside Liberty’s town limits also goes into that account.
Currently, there is about $168,000 in that fund.
However, there may be other items the fire department will need to purchase out of that account. Also, the fire department will have to pay for the truck’s insurance and maintenance out of the township fire fund.
Thus, some money could be taken out of different funds such as Local Option Income Tax, Rainy Day and Economic Development Income Tax to name some of the funds available to fund the truck, Shepler said.
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