Coldwater will purchase new fire truck, despite only one bid
By a 6-3 vote, Coldwater City Council on Monday approved a bid for $822,663 with Spencer Manufacturing of South Haven to purchase a new fire truck.
The city specification called for a polybody rather than an aluminum body limiting the bidders to two of the six manufacturers. Fire Chief Dave Schmaltz received criticism for not obtaining at least bids for both style trucks to determine the price difference.
Council members Jim Knaack, Chad Johnson, and Mayor Tom Kramer voted against accepting the bid. Kramer said, "I'm not comfortable with one bid."
Councilman Mike Beckwith told the chief, "You are the expert, and I appreciate that. But it would have been it would be nice to see the bid with the poly and then the alternate. Then you give us the reasons why this is better."
Schmaltz said to rebid would push the decision out to September to order. The price would expect to go up.
"It's never going to be cheaper," he said.
Councilwoman Emily Rissman asked and was assured of the purchase "this year or next year, this purchase needs to happen."
Schmaltz said the polybody allowed for easier repair and a larger water tank in talking to other departments.
"The bigger thing we're looking at going with a poly body instead of aluminum is for the corrosion and the durability of the poly," he said.
Angola, Ind., uses two polybody trucks. Lakeland Fire's newest truck is also a polybody.
In a slide presentation, Schmaltz showed each of the six major pieces of equipment used for fire and rescue.
The oldest is Engine 4, purchased by Coldwater and Girard Township in 1993. There are no plans for them to replace that unit.
Rescue 1 is the 1997 reserve pumper/engine. The chief said it meets the criteria to be replaced because of its age. It is scheduled for replacement in 2022-2023.
Since late 2019, the city has spent $10,673 on repair for a piece of equipment that is in reserve status.
"We continue to have issues with the pump relief valve working even after multiple mechanics have looked at it," he said. The truck "on occasion, jumps out of pump gear and back into road gear which could result in the vehicle rolling down the road," a danger for firemen and the public.
Engine 7 isn't due to be moved to reserve status for another three years.
"However, with the way the repairs have begun to increase over the last couple of years, I am not confident that it can sustain being utilized as a frontline piece of equipment for another three years," Schmaltz said.
"We have seen a large increase in repairs over the last couple of years. From 2019 to June 2022, the amount for repairs has been $43,604.78 with some additional repairs" needed. The department removed it from service last weekend after the brakes failed.
When the chassis is ready, the city will pay Spencer about 60% of the price in the next budget year. The final payment won't come until November 2023, when the truck is delivered.
Finance Director Tom Eldridge said the staff and council expected to pay for the truck out of the city's $6 million fund balance.
The council discussed using $2 million of the reserves for projects. It committed $350,000 to the DDA for a loan for the renovations of the Taylor building. Another $350,000 will complete the Four Corners Park.
That would leave $1.3 million in discretionary spending for the 2022-23 fiscal year or over $400,00 after the fire truck purchase.
The city committed about half the $1.2 million American Rescue Plan money for street repairs this year. It would use the other half on more road projects.
The council has not decided yet on how to spend its share, $338,720, of the state marijuana excise tax revenue received this year.
