Council OKs additions to controversial fire truck

Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Tuesday night the Nevada City Council passed three measures, two of them over the objections of Dick Meyers and Bill Gillette, to move the purchase of the city's new rescue truck forward.

Councilmen Tim Moore, James Stacy and Brian Leonard, in what turned out to be the final council meeting for all three men, voted 3-0 to add a 30-foot heavy duty mast, video camera and 15-inch color monitor to the city's new rescue truck so it can be used as a mobile command unit during emergencies. This equipment, which must be added to the truck when it is being built, will be paid for with a Homeland Security Grant. The added cost for the equipment will be $12,605. Councilman Bill Edmonds is recovering from surgery and was excused and Jim Rayburn did not attend.

Gillette told the council that he was fire chief when the specifications for the rescue truck were first developed. He said that the truck was ordered from a company in Camdenton, whose manager is the Camdenton fire chief.

"He already has the change order before the council approved it," Gillette said.

The councilmen also voted 3-0 to approve the purchase of $19,356.11 of miscellaneous equipment for the rescue truck. The total amount is to be included as part of the lease-purchase agreement with U.S. Bank.

Thirteen thousand dollars of the total is for two airbags, with the remainder for small tools, Dick Meyers said.

"I didn't know lenders would make a loan for small tools," he said.

Meyers told the council that he also had questions about the total cost of the truck.

"The truck plus the $19,000 for the tools comes to about $273,000," he said.

"But you are asking for $305,000. Where is the other $32,000 going?" Meyers said.

"You need to look into this and let the public know what that $32,000 is for before you approve the purchase agreement," he said.

Meyers also told the council that he believed the fire department had an account with considerable money in it that could be used to purchase the tools for the rescue truck.

Gillette told the council that the money Meyers was talking about is in the fire imaging fund which came from various donations from the community.

The money was not needed for that purpose since he found grants to cover their cost.

"There should be substantial money there that could be used to pay for some of this," he said.

Gillette also questioned whether the city followed its purchase requirements for these tools.

"Anytime the city purchases anything costing over $5,000 it is required to get three bids. Those bids are not shown in the information on the miscellaneous equipment and you do not know if that is the low bid or not," Gillette told the council.

The new fire truck is a far cry from the truck originally proposed by a committee of firefighters last year. Originally, Gillette said in an interview last week, the truck was to replace a 20-year-old rescue truck. The primary purpose of the truck, as firefighters saw it, was to respond to motor vehicle accidents and other incidents where rescue operations are required.

The originally proposed vehicle, a light-duty rescue truck, would have cost about $120,000, Gillette said. The current truck will be equipped as both a rescue truck and a mobile command center.

Gillette said there are many things that can be done to a fire vehicle to make it a multi-purpose vehicle, but the current vehicle is something that will be needed only on very rare occasions and questioned the need for additions that increased the height of the vehicle as well.

In addition to these two measures, the council voted 3-0 to give final approval to the $305,000 lease-purchase agreement with US Bank to finance the purchase of the Freightliner M-2 medium duty fire rescue vehicle that is currently being built by Precision Fire Apparatus, Inc., in Camdenton.

According to information with the ordinance, $73,000 will be paid for the chassis when the lease agreement is approved. The balance, $176,671, will be paid on delivery, which is scheduled for late May or early June.

Outgoing council members Brian Leonard and Tim Moore addressed the council, thanking the people for the opportunity to have served.

Moore's comments went on voice concerns relating to council member actions, powers in a written statement which he later agreed to provide to the Daily Mail for further coverage of the issues he discussed.

In other business the council:

* Accepted the bid from Stidham Electric for rock drilling for new light poles at Lyons Stadium and Bushwhacker Field. The total cost of the drilling is not to exceed $18,000.

* Approved the appointment of Neal Quitno to the board of adjustment. Quitno's term will expire in April 2011.

* Approved the re-appointment of Inez Byers to her second term on the Nevada Housing Authority board. Her term will expire in January 2011.

* Gave final approval to a special ordinance approving an agreement with Lakes Country Resource Center for the engagement of assessment services and employee support. This will be provided at no cost to the city.

* Voted to approve paying the city's $5,280 annual fee for membership in the Southwest Missouri Major Case Squad Drug Task Force. The fee covers the city's portion of the matching funds for the grant from the state of Missouri that covers the cost of operating the program.

The drug task force provides undercover officers and money to buy drugs to make cases on drug dealers. The task force will handle the seizure and processing of clandestine methamphetamine labs located in the Nevada Police Department's jurisdiction.

* Voted to approve a solicitor's license for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to allow them to solicit donations on May 27 at the Osage and Austin intersection.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving a mutual aid agreement between the Milo Fire Department and the city of Nevada.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving a mutual aid agreement between the Compton Junction Fire District and the city of Nevada.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving a lease agreement with Young Iron & Metal, Inc. for a trailer used in the city's recycling program.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving an agreement with SBC for local telephone service.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving an agreement with Jorgen Schlemeier to provide lobbying services for the city of Nevada.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving the city's annual agreement with Dennis Jones and Associates for maintenance on the city's finance computer system.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving a contract for the Nevada Police Department to provide additional police services for the Nevada Housing Authority.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving a service agreement with Guthrie Motors, Inc. for the repair of the city's vehicles.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving addendum No. 1 to the wrecker services agreement with Garwood Wrecker LLC.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving a service agreement with Phillips Towing and Auto Sales, Inc. for wrecker services.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving an agreement with the Children's Center of West Central Missouri.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving an agreement with Bowman's Vernon County Title Company to provide services for the city of Nevada during 2006.

* Held a public hearing and passed on first reading an ordinance granting a special use permit to Bill Erwin for a 50-foot Internet tower at Stone Gate Addition, Lot 22.

* Passed on first reading on ordinance approving an agreement with Challenger Sports Corporation to provide a youth soccer camp for the city of Nevada. This will be the third year for the camp.

* Passed on first reading an ordinance approving an agreement with Allgeier, Martin & Associates, Inc. for miscellaneous engineering services.

* Adopted Resolution No. 1151 authorizing the filing of an application with the Environmental Protection Agency. This is part of the process to receive financial assistance for the work being done on the city's wastewater treatment plant.

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