By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The Hays Fire Department will soon have a new fire truck.
City commissioners Thursday night unanimously approved the $601,850 purchase of a 2016 demonstrator Rosenbauer America pumper-ladder truck from Hays Fire and Rescue Sales and Service.
The HFD 2017 budget includes $700,000 from the New Equipment Reserve for the purchase. The department will sell its 2002 pumper-ladder truck to Jon’s Mid America Fire Apparatus of Rogersville, Missouri, for $125,000, resulting in a final cost of $476,850 to replace the current truck.
“The thing that really pushes me to say this is a really good thing is the amount of money you’re getting for the existing truck,” commented Commissioner Sandy Jacobs. “I think that’s a really big thing.”
The new fire truck has a lighter duty ladder and no bucket on the front. It’s more compact than what it is replacing, and that’s the direction HFD needs to be going, Fire Chief Gary Brown told commissioners.
“A more compact pumper-ladder truck is more appropriate for the narrow streets already in the city as well as additional narrow streets anticipated in the city’s future development. It also requires about 25 percent less space to set up and operate, making the truck better to use on congested streets,” Brown explained.
“We wouldn’t be here recommending this if we didn’t think it was perfectly adequate for serving the needs of the city. One is a battleship, one is a destroyer,” he said.
“I appreciate we’re going smaller,” said Commissioner Henry Schwaller. “One of the complaints I hear is we take the bigger truck out, which we have to do to keep it operating, and it uses more oil and more energy. It’s more costly to keep it operating.”
Brown estimated the 2002 pumper-ladder truck uses about 40 percent more fuel than the more compact 2007 pumper-ladder truck the fire department will continue to use.
In other business, the commission accepted the recommendation of the $196,661 low bid from Midwest Public Risk for the city’s commercial insurance policy. The city’s current policy with BRIT Insurance expires July 1. BRIT had submitted a renewal bid of $218,088.
“The outcome translates into a zero percent increase or just $441 more than the prior period,” noted Kim Rupp, city finance director.