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Council approves sale of two fire apparatus, cites replacement costs and regional needs
Summary
The council approved sale of a 2018 Freightliner tanker and a 1999 ladder truck after discussing replacement costs and local needs; letters of intent from neighboring departments were on file.
The New Ellenton City Council approved the sale of two pieces of fire apparatus — a 2018 Freightliner tanker (Tanker 25) and a ladder truck — after the fire department outlined maintenance challenges and replacement cost considerations.
Fire representatives told the council that the 1999 ladder truck is expensive to maintain and that a comparable new vehicle would cost on the order of millions of dollars and require multi-year lead times to build. One speaker said, “a new ... is somewhere around $2,000,000,” and noted typical build times of four to five years for specialty apparatus. Council and department staff said letters of intent had been received from a neighboring county department interested in one of the vehicles, and that the sales would return funds to the department budget.
Council members moved, seconded and voted to approve the sales; staff were authorized to proceed with sale paperwork and acceptance of firm offers. Council also discussed ensuring that new apartment or multi-story construction projects include sprinkler systems where applicable so the city’s apparatus needs remain aligned with local building characteristics.
No purchase of replacement apparatus was authorized at the meeting; the discussion focused on salvaging value from aging equipment and on coordinating sale logistics with interested neighboring departments.
