Decision about ladder truck likely this month
Mayor Steve Noble has a few models to choose from for the city fire department.
Mayor Steve Noble is expected to decide soon whether the city will purchase a type of new ladder truck for the Kingston Fire Department.
Megan Weiss-Rowe, the city’s director of communication and community engagement, said Noble is reviewing several options.
“The mayor is evaluating the final few models, based on feedback from [Fire] Chief [Mark] Brown, the KPFFA, (Kingston Professional Firefighters Association union) and others,” Weiss-Rowe said. “He plans to make a decision by the end of this month.”
Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Tiano, the president of the union, said the union wants the city to buy a tiller-style truck, which requires a second driver at the rear. Tiano said the tiller truck and a straight one are under consideration. He said the fire department has used a tiller truck since at least the 1940s.
“Based on the areas that we serve in Kingston, it is our opinion that it is best served with the tiller truck [for] easy maneuverability to get in the tight streets,” Tiano said Friday.
Tiano said the straight truck performed fine in a test but might not during the winter, when snowbanks form. Even so, he said, any purchase of a new ladder truck would be a welcome addition to the department’s fleet.
It was nearly three years ago that the Common Council authorized borrowing $900,000 to buy a new ladder truck. In November, the city received a low bid of $1,146,716 for delivery of a vehicle.
All of the trucks under consideration would cost about that amount or a little less, Tiano said.
There has been no request by the Noble administration or Brown for additional borrowing.
Brown has said the original bid was “unacceptable” and that he was trying to pare the cost by using another method that legally avoids the bidding process.
In early February, Noble said he and Brown were continuing to review the pending purchase to replace the department’s current ladder truck, which breaks down frequently.
“Chief Brown and I have looked at the bids and recognize that they all came in higher than we have bonding for,” Noble said at the time. “So, at this moment, we are looking to see if there are any other purchasing options available to us, as well as looking to see what options were included on the original request for proposals and see what flexibility we may have.
The low bid was submitted by KME-Kovatch Organization of Nesquehoning, Pa.
The current ladder truck dates to 1998.