Quincy continues to look at ladder trucks

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council chose to pursue buying a used ladder truck in Alabama after hearing from a Spokane company on Tuesday.

Ken Gormley, a salesman from General Fire Apparatus, presented plans for a $660,000 demonstration model ladder truck. The truck is scheduled to be built by November.

The city accepted bids to buy a ladder truck after discovering purchasing a demonstration model required them to go through the bidding process.

Gormley said the company considered submitting a bid, but the company decided against it because of the specifications.

“We decided to throw our hat back in the ring for a couple of reasons,” he said. “One, what we can provide the city for the price. Cash is king right now.”

He said the company could provide a ladder truck and a pumper for $880,000 roughly the same price as the bid the city received for the demonstration model ladder truck.

“I’m not going to run down other builders, we all do things a little bit different,” Gormley said. “Every salesman can stand here and say, ‘we’re the best, everybody else is the worst.’ We all do it differently.”

He said the company provides training, one-year warranty and free delivery. While not all the pieces are manufactured by the same people, he said there isn’t a problem with getting the pieces fixed.

“Spokane is a fully-functional, seven-bay, seven-full-time-mechanic shop,” he said. “We work on everybody’s trucks.”

The city council approved sending two people to Alabama to look at a 1995 E-ONE truck. The truck is priced at $329,000 before tax. Gormley said the city may want to question why the truck is used.

If the council decided to purchase the truck, the city would have to accept bids again, Mayor Jim Hemberry said.

Councilmembers Jose Saldana and Scott Lybbert said they were in favor of going to Alabama to look at and possibly purchase the $329,000 truck.