By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Decatur City Council has approved an $800,000 additional appropriation to its 2025 budget, the funds to be used on the purchase of a new aerial ladder truck for the fire department.
A public hearing was held at council’s latest meeting, with no opposition to the appropriation aired.
The $800,000 is a down payment on what will cost in total the sum of $2.5 million.
Council decided at its previous meeting that the purchase has to be made since the department’s current aerial is 28 years old and beginning to show considerable wear and tear.
The new truck, whose ladder can take a firefighter as high as 100 feet at a certain angle, is being purchased from the MacQueen Co., a dealer for Pierce fire trucks, which has supplied city trucks in the past.
The MacQueen truck, at a cost of roughly $2.5 million, can be readied and turned over to the city in a year or so. It is a stock truck, “stock” referring to the fact that it has a few miles on it due to the fact that it has been used for demonstrations and the like.
Council decided to go that way after Fire Chief Jeff Sheets said the stock truck would have all the specifications the city department needs, and a few modifications can be made.
Going the conventional route would see an expenditure of around $4 million for an all-new aerial truck which could not be delivered in less than four years.
Council earlier decided to figure out how to finance the rest of the purchase within the next few months, as the truck is being made ready for Decatur.
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