Quincy council looks for ladder truck again

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council went back to shopping for a ladder truck during their Tuesday meeting.

This is after the council decided against spending about $845,000 to purchase an E-ONE demonstration model. The city started accepting bids on the truck after they found out 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 price on the bid expired Wednesday.

“We still need a ladder truck,” Mayor Jim Hemberry said. “The council just doesn’t want to spend that much money to purchase one.”

Councilmember Scott Lybbert said he found a truck in California for about $200,000. The truck is a 20-year-old E-ONE, which is in the process of being certified in early January. The city doesn’t need to go through the bidding process to purchase a used truck.

The person selling the truck invited the city to inspect the truck before they purchase it, Lybbert said. The truck would come with a 90-day warranty for the parts, and because it’s an E-ONE there is a Yakima service center which would be able to fix problems with the equipment.

“This is a salesman we’re talking to,” he said. “But it’s no different than the salesman that showed up last week (with the demonstration model.)”

Lybbert said other cities are looking at the truck, but are holding off for the holidays.

District 3’s Fire Chief Don Fortier said he did have a couple of concerns about the used truck, including the age and the equipment available on the truck.

“The truck is 20 years old. The life expectancy for a ladder truck is 25 to 30 years,” he said. “There is also new technology that will let us know if it starts icing up. That concerns me too.”

Fortier said the cities of Ephrata and Moses Lake bought new ladder trucks when they needed them.

“You’re putting four people on the truck,” he said. “There are four lives that you are always going to have on the truck … We have an opportunity to fix the problem and fix it right.”

Councilmember Jose Saldana said if the city decided to buy the used truck and gets 10 years out of it, they may end up spending the same amount of money over time.

Lybbert and Councilmember Rebecca Young said they didn’t want to drain the fire equipment fund by purchasing the new ladder truck.

“I hate taking $900,000 and putting it all on one truck,” Lybbert said.

Fortier said the city’s engines wouldn’t need to be replaced for a while, but the district would do whatever the city wants.