Quincy doesn't buy ladder truck

Price is issue for most councilmembers

QUINCY - Quincy decided not to buy a fire truck to avoid spending $845,993.

The council started accepting bids for ladder trucks after they discovered purchasing a demonstration model required them to go through the bidding process.

The council wanted to purchase a truck for about $45,000 less in late September.

The benefits of the demonstration model include a warranty, an aluminum ladder and the truck being stored in Yakima, said Don Fortier, Fire District 3's fire chief.

"Because we just got this on Monday, we are continuing this meeting to Thursday night if you would rather think about it … we can discuss this on Thursday night," Mayor Jim Hemberry said. "Or we can do it tonight."

Councilmember Tony Gonzalez said he didn't want to wait. The council saved money for a new ladder truck for the last four years.

"I want to continue with this," he said. "I want to get it done."

Councilmember Keith Anstine said he wanted to know why the price rose.

"What about this big recession, where we're supposed to be getting good prices?" he asked. "It's a lot (of money)."

Fortier said the cost of materials keeps going up, and each time the purchase is delayed the price rises.

"The (demonstration models) keep getting sold," he said. "So they started off at that $750,000 range and every time we missed out on one, it went up another $50,000 … It is not a Cadillac. There's not a lot of bells and whistles on it. Other than meeting the minimum requirements there's nothing else on it, but it will definitely meet the needs of the community for the next 20 (to) 30 years."

Fortier said he was concerned if the city waited the price would rise again.

"The salesman's talking to me, he says there's a price increase coming," he said. "He's not trying to push it, but every time he tells me that it does come true. I'm afraid we're going to be close to $900,000 if we have to go back out for bid."

Councilmember Rebecca Young said she was concerned there was only one bid.

"I would feel more comfortable if I had at least two to look at," she said.

While other companies expressed interest in bidding, Fortier said the companies couldn't meet the city's requirement of having all parts of the truck be produced by one company.

"The reason we went that way is there's some manufacturers out there that are buying components and assembling those components to build ladder trucks," he said. "They buy a chassis, they buy a box, they buy a ladder and they put all those things together. The problem that's happened is when there's a warranty issue in any one of those components they start pointing the fingers at the other manufacturers because a ladder truck is so integrated."

Fortier said there are only two sole-source manufacturers, E-ONE and Pierce Manufacturing. He said Pierce could not beat E-ONE as far as price.

"Tacoma Fire (Department), Seattle Fire (Department) they buy Pierce," he said. "Everybody in Central Washington buys E-Ones because they're less expensive. I don't think the quality is any different, but some people do … We recently purchased two fire engines and we only had one bidder there too and that was E-ONE."

Councilmember Scott Lybbert asked how often there would be a problem if they purchased a truck from a different manufacturer.

"These are successful fire truck builders," he said. "They've been building for years that way. I understand where you're coming from. Even if you got one of these trucks you'd be looking at about the same price."

Fortier said other salespeople told him they couldn't compete with E-ONE.

"They're a complicated piece of equipment and there will be warranty issues with it," he said. "There always will be."

Hemberry said the city didn't have enough money in the budget to cover the cost of the truck, and the council would need to move money from other sections of the budget.

Also he said the last review from Washington State Surveying and Ratings Bureau stated the city was 29 points away from a higher class. The bureau is a non-profit organization which provides ratings for insurance companies about fire defenses and building code enforcement. Some insurance companies use those ratings to set prices.

They inspect the city every five years. In 2003, the city dropped from a class five to a class six.

"If you're buying the ladder truck because you think it's important to the safety to the city of Quincy, then I think you need to seriously think about it," he said. "I'm not really happy with the $900,000, I think a used vehicle would still do the job."

Hemberry said the city's water supply went from 753 to 524 deficiency points, which is an improvement of about 229 points. The fire department went from 1175 to 1245, a change of 70 points.

"(The fire department) got worse," he said. "You might buy this ladder truck and find yourself in three or four years right back at a class six again and no money to do anything about it."

Fortier said the department's rating is under review and they are providing additional information to the company.

Councilmember Paul Worley said they're getting enough new developments, the city needs the ladder truck.

"Ephrata might not always be there to bring one over," he said.

Councilmember Manuel Guerrero said the people he has spoken with have said the city doesn't need a new ladder truck.

Fortier said fighting a fire in a multi-level building would require the department to lob the water up and try to hit the fire.

Gonzalez said his main concern wasn't the data centers, it was the new houses and apartment buildings in the city.

"We still have a lot of structures in this community that are wood ceilings, wood roof systems," Fortier said. "We have some fire issues, large building fire issues."

After the motion's defeat, Hemberry said the city's public safety committee will probably examine the issue of the ladder truck at their Dec. 16 meeting.