MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Board of Control gave its “consensus” approval on Tuesday to a fire department request to spend $1.4 million on two new pumper trucks.
That approval is based on determining the best way to pay for the new Pierce trucks, which will also require the approval of City Council.
The proposal was not on the agenda for the meeting, but the city was notified by email on Monday that Atlantic Emergency Solutions based in Manassas, Va., plans a 7.5-percent price increase scheduled Feb. 1 due to rising material costs.
“(Fire chief Steve Strickling) got an email from Atlantic wondering where we stood,” said Dave Remy, the city’s public works director and interim safety-service director. “If we don’t act on this as quickly as possible, the price will increase by about $100,000.”
Strickling told the board that the trucks are needed to replace aging equipment, which would be moved into the city’s reserve fleet. The control board is comprised of Remy, Mayor Tim Theaker and Finance Director Linn Steward.
Strickling said the trucks underwent refurbishing about seven years ago, which was done to try to get five more years of service from them.
“We kicked the can down the road five, six, seven years ago and it’s time to look at it,” the chief said.
One possibility is borrowing the money and paying for the trucks over time, using the fire department’s capital improvement funds. Another possibility would be the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Theaker pointed out the next City Council meeting is Feb. 1 and that approval may not be received by the company’s price increase deadline.
He asked Strickling to contact the Atlantic Emergency Solutions to ask if the company would keep the current price with the “consensus” approval of the control board and pending City Council approval.
“The only reason I wanted to discuss this today was if the Board of Control expressed our intent to commit, you would have a little bit of leverage with the company,” Theaker said.
Strickling said, “I can definitely ask,” adding the $1.4 million price tag will provide trucks ready for service, needing only radios and computers.
“It sounds big. It is big. But it’s (a) good (price) in the grand scheme of things,” the chief said.
The trucks would be manufactured in Appleton, Wisconsin, and would not arrive until the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023, the chief said.
Also on Tuesday, the Control Board:
— approved Strickling’s request to spend $30,030 to purchase 10 sets of firefighter turnout gear (coats and pants). The chief said the gear is needed to replace worn-out protective gear.
— approved a Kokosing Construction bid to repave 26.16 miles of city streets this year. The company’s bid of $4,859,251.54 was more than $100,000 less than the bid received from Shelly & Sands, Inc.
— voted 2-1 to spend up to $30,000 employ the Columbus firm of Clemans-Nelson to assist in upcoming contract negotiations with the city’s safety forces. Steward cast the dissenting vote.
“I was involved in some of the contract negotiations the last time, which was the first time the finance director has been involved,” Steward said. “I don’t think they had the best interests of the city. There was a lot of trouble getting hold of the (Clemans-Nelson) person working with us, getting things finalized. It was not easy,” Steward said.
