By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Ellis County Fire Co. No. 4 will soon be getting a new fire truck to replace their nearly 40-year-old truck.
The Ellis County Commission approved the purchase of a new rescue fire truck from Hays Fire and Rescue at Monday’s commission meeting.
The rescue truck will be similar to Rescue 50 out of Hays, which is a wildland fire truck that also carries the rescue tools.
Ellis County Director of Fire and Emergency Management Darin Myers said the truck is a new type of truck that they are incorporating into the fleet.
“It is a interface between a wildland vehicle, so we can fight grass fires through the difficult terrain, as well as working on vehicle accidents,” Myers said.
The department is replacing the bigger trucks in the fleet with the smaller trucks.
“The philosophy of this truck is to purchase less expensive truck to run on the more frequent calls,” Myers said.
The truck will cost the department $130,798 dollars and is expected to be ready for the county in six to eight months.
In other business, Cottonwood Extension District Director Donna Krug provided her first report to the commission. The Cottonwood Extension District, the consolidation of the Barton and Ellis County Districts, officially started July 1, but Krug said they began working together before the partnership began. She said she believes there will be great collaboration between the two counties.
“We really do see the Cottonwood District as something that will be able to sustain many many years into the future,” Krug said. “We know that funding was getting very tight, and I think that you’ll be very pleased with what we can provide.”
Beginning in 2018, the extension district will begin collecting taxes as its own independent taxing authority and will no longer be funded by the counties.
In other business the commission gave Myers the approval to sell old radio equipment that was recently found in the basement of the Law Enforcement Center. Myers said it is equipment that is not compatible with the county’s current radio equipment.
Commissioner Dean Haselhorst was absent from Monday’s meeting.