Gilford BudCom lacks consensus on buying new $441k truck for fire dept.

GILFORD - Budget Committee members wrestled for about an hour Thursday night before deciding to delay a decision on whether or not the Fire Department should replace its 26-year-old pumper truck.

Chief Steven Carrier, the Board of Fire Engineers, the Board of Selectmen and members of the Capital Improvement Committee had all agreed that 2012 would be the year to replace Engine 4 — with a new pumper.

Carrier solicited a bid from E-One for $441,820 and said if approved the engine/pumper would be ready for service in December of 2012. The recommendation was to pay for the truck by issuing 10-year-bonds with the first payment scheduled for 2013.

But that was before the October 10 Budget Committee meeting.

Members Kevin Leandro and Pat LaBonte — both with some experience in heavy equipment — challenged the need for a new tanker/pumper — requesting instead that Carrier bring them an estimate for refurbishing #4 rather than replacing it.

Carrier contacted Valley Fire Equipment who gave him a "rough" estimate of $131,245, which includes some cosmetic work, replacing regular lights with LED lights for visibility, rebuilding the pump and rewiring the entire truck.

Leandro and LaBonte said they inspected the truck themselves.

"There's a lot of work here we don't need, chief," said Leandro, adding that the pump could be rebuilt for $9,000 at most.

LaBonte stepped it up a little when he said in his opinion most of the problems with the 26-year old fire truck were a lack of routine maintenance – a statement Carrier and fleet supervisor Don DeCarli both said was untrue and unfair.

LaBonti said he believes the town often lets pieces of equipment get run down when they show up on the Capital Improvement or wish list.

Carrier explained that the truck had already been completely refurbished once and had a complete pump rebuild about five years ago. He also said there are no guarantees associated with a refurbishment.

"We have fire personnel on this truck. When we have an emergency we have people on both sides of it. During an emergency, this truck cannot fail," Carrier said.

He also said the department deliberately cut its budget by about 3.5-percent in anticipation of needing a new engine/pumper in 2012 and a new ambulance in 2014.

"A 25-percent investment in a 26-year-old piece of equipment just doesn't make sense," Carrier said.

Representing the selectmen, Gus Benavides said his board went over the Fire Department budget very carefully and unanimously agreed replacing Engine 4 was "a huge part of what the fire department needs."

Benavides said he would continue to support buying the new engine and would not likely support refurbishment.