The city may be replacing it's 1988 GMC Pumper after it received a $90,000 grant toward the purchase of a new pumper truck. This is great news as the city has been diligently saving for 15 years to replace a major piece of equipment. The grant will cover about a third (33%) of the purchase.

Replacing fire trucks is going to be increasingly difficult for small fire departments. These are some of the most expensive equipment that the city purchases and the volunteer firemen spend hours every month making sure that this equipment is maintained to get as long a life as possible out it.

The city has been aggressive in pursuing grants for capital outlay projects and this is a good example of how the city can make its meager funds stretch quite a bit longer. One other note, the purchase of the new truck will not use any revenue from the general, street, water or sewer funds. The truck purchase (assuming that it will come in under the project budget of $302,000) will be entirely from transient room tax (collected and socked away for 15 years) and the federal grant.

I appreciate the fire chief's work on this project, too. The fire truck committee has spent countless hours on the bid specs and the city supports their efforts.

Hopefully we'll have great news to share after the bids are opened on Dec. 5th.