Central Council Approves Purchase Of Two Used Fire Trucks

Craig Bakay | Jul 17, 2024

Council approved the purchase of two (used) fire vehicles after several proposals had been rejected to deal with the Piccadilly substation situation at its regular meeting July 9 in Sharbot Lake.

The Piccadilly station had been housing a pickup truck that firefighters had been using for medical calls but Coun. Nicki Gowdy and Phillip Smith weren’t happy with that, asking for a piece of “fire apparatus” to be at the station.

One issue was that two of the firefighters assigned to the station only handle medical calls and weren’t licensed to drive most fire trucks.

After several unsuccessful attempts to appease the District 4 councillors, Fire Chief/Manager of Emergency Services Chris McDonough came up with the July 7 plan whereby the Township would trade in a 1999 tanker and a 2019 pumper in order to purchase a 2019 pumper/rescue and a 2015 wildfire/mini-pumper from Brindlee Fire Trucks Inc. in Huntsville Alabama.

Part of the story is that Council had approved $551,000 in the 2024 budget for the purchase of a new pumper/tanker for Arden Station 1 but staff was recently advised by the dealer that the chassis will not be available to complete the build until early 2025.

“Given the delay on the delivery of the pumper/tanker, staff is recommending to replace the 2003 pumper that is in Station 3 Sharbot Lake with the 1019 pumper/rescue and replace the 2008 pickup truck in Piccadilly with a 2015 wildfire pumper,” McDonough said in his report. “The 2019 pumper/rescue would maintain the Tanker Shuttle Accreditation and the 2015 wildfire pumper would provide emergency service in the Piccadilly area.

“As well, the wildfire pumper would provide service for narrow or private roads in the municipality and would not require our crews to have a D-Z licence to drive the apparatus.”

The trade-in value of the 2003 pumper is $60,000 US and the 1999 tanker is $10,000 US and the price from the new vehicles is $570,000 US or $770,000 US.

“Currently, there is $551,000 in the 2024 budget that is allocated to purchase the pumper/tanker coming in 2025 which will form part of the 2025 budget,” McDonough’s report said. “Fire Reserves are at $494,00 which we will have to pull $219,000 from in 2024.”

McDonough said the next steps are for him to fly to Huntsville to inspect the vehicles and he hopes to negotiate a little better price since the quoted price is to the border. The Township will still be responsible for brokerage fees, safety checks and installing some equipment such as radios.

McDonough also used his time to announce that the automatic aid agreement with South Frontenac Township has been signed and will include medical calls, grass fires, structure fires and any other calls to which fire departments would normally respond.

A recorded vote on the resolution to purchase was unanimous (excepting Coun. Cindy Kelsey who was not in attendance).

Procurement Policy

In a tie vote (ie motion defeated), Council voted not to include three points be included in the new Draft Procurement Policy.

The three points were requested by staff and would make it easier to purchase from sole source providers, which often speeds up the process and requires less staff time.

“I think we’ve used sole sourcing more than we should,” said Coun. Phillip Smith.

“It’s just a last resort, not the way we normally do business,” said Mayor Frances Smith.

In a recorded vote, Phillip Smith, Dan Meeks, Duncan McGregor and Nicki Gowdy voted no.

“The policy got a lot smaller but will require a lot more work,” said Mayor Smith.

Grader Damaged

Council approved $60,000 to put a new transmission in a Township grader that was damaged in a “mishap.”

Treasurer Michael McGovern said they’d “look for lines in the budget” to pay for it but if not, the money would have to come from reserves.

Support for Parham Fair

Council reiterated its commitment of $2,000 to the 2024 Parham Fair, which had already been put in the 2024 budget.

Fair representative Haley Rose told Council this will be the 132nd consecutive fair.

“We did not stop during Covid,” she said. “We just went online.

“It’s the only fair left in Frontenac County and may be the largest event, except for maybe the Blue Skies Music Festival.”

She said they wanted to ensure that a family of four could come to the fair for a day for $60 and to let everyone know that anybody can join in the events, whether they’re just visiting or not.

“Want to be in the frog-jumping contest?” she said. “Just catch a frog and put it in a bucket.”