Whiteland council approves $1.46 million bond package to fund fire engine repairs, delays ladder purchase

The Whiteland Town Council voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a bond ordinance and an appropriation not to exceed $1,460,000 to fund fire department capital needs, including engine repairs and a lease payment for a replacement engine.

Council members and the town's fire chief extensively debated whether to repair a 24-year-old ladder truck, buy a used demo ladder, or bond for a new ladder and equipment. Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser recommended that the town "replace the engine" and acquire a ladder on a bond while removing staff vehicles from consideration. "From a fire protection standpoint, you want an engine and you want a ladder in this town," Funkhouser said. He advised against spending roughly $90,000 to repair the existing 24-year-old ladder truck.

The debate centered on three package options prepared by the town's financial advisor (referred to in the meeting as Adam): (1) smaller purchases; (2) an intermediate option (2B) that would include staff vehicle replacements and engine lease payments; and (3) a larger package to purchase a ladder truck and equipment outright. Funkhouser said option 3 would restore the department's capital needs but acknowledged it would push the fire protection district's constitutional debt limit to near capacity. "Yes. It would. But ultimately, at that point, you've replaced your biggest risks that are out there," he said of the higher debt utilization.

Council discussion repeatedly returned to trade-offs between near-term costs, long-term replacement timelines and risk to public safety if reliance is put on mutual aid. Council members expressed differing priorities: some urged avoiding maxing out debt limits given state-level changes in funding rules; others wanted to ensure the department had a ladder locally rather than relying on mutual aid from neighboring towns. Tim Brown asked whether the ladder and engine needed to be replaced at the same time; another council member said the engine was a "no brainer" and that the town had already agreed to repair Engine 71 for about $50,000.

The approved motion, moved by Councilman Joe Sailor and seconded by Councilman Brad Goedecker, adopted the bond ordinance (2025-08) and the related appropriation ordinance (2025-09) with the $1,460,000 figure entered in the blanks. The ordinances authorizing the bond and its appropriation were read and then passed on roll-call vote: Tim Brown, Brad Goedecker, Joe Sailor and Deborah Hendrickson all voted yes. The clerk recorded the motion as passing 4-0.

Details discussed publicly during the meeting include: - Engine repairs: Engine 71 has an estimated $50,000 of repairs already paid or in process; the council and chief acknowledged those repairs will be reimbursed from bond proceeds if included in the package. - Ladder truck options: Meeting materials referenced a used/demo ladder truck priced around $2.3 million (with equipment raising the total to around $2.4'$2.5 million) and noted that a new spec ladder can take about three years to receive. The alternative to repair the current ladder was estimated at roughly $90,000 (hydraulic and motor work), with no guarantee of there being no further issues. - Lease and operating plan: The chief and staff described a proposed 10-year lease for an engine with an annual lease appropriation of about $105,000; the town's capital fund (referred to in the meeting as "CAPQ") brings in roughly $200,000 annually, meaning the lease would use roughly half of that ongoing revenue while leaving the town building about $95,000 per year in capital cash. - Tax impact: The financial memo shown to the council estimated a taxpayer impact on the order of $90 annually per $100,000 of assessed value for the larger bond scenarios, with the caveat that actual resident impact depends on tax caps and circuit-breaker rules.

Discussion vs. decision: Council debate included policy and timing questions and technical clarifications from staff and the chief. The clear formal actions were: (1) authorization to proceed with the bond/appropriation ordinances filled with $1,460,000 and (2) acceptance of previously agreed-to engine repairs of about $50,000. No final purchase order for a ladder truck was approved at the meeting; that larger purchase was effectively deferred while the council approved the intermediate package that included engine repairs and staff-vehicle considerations.

The ordinance language also contained administrative provisions tied to town finance procedures, including a subsection authorizing the deputy clerk treasurer to act if the clerk treasurer is unavailable. The council then set a public hearing and final readings consistent with municipal bond procedures.

The vote followed a motion by Sailor, second by Goedecker, and a roll call that returned a unanimous (4-0) approval of the $1,460,000 figure for the bond and appropriation ordinances.