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Council approves fire ladder truck, police hybrid SUVs and ratifies labor agreements with municipal employees and firefighters
Summary
Council authorized the purchase of four hybrid police utility interceptors ($238,000) and a fire aerial ladder truck ($2,130,947, with a four‑year lead time), and unanimously ratified memoranda of understanding with municipal employees and the firefighters association that include pay adjustments and a path toward four‑person engine staffing.
The council moved several operational and labor items intended to maintain public safety services and advance workforce pay.
Finance director Thomas Reich briefed the council on vehicle purchases, noting authorization to purchase and build out four Ford Police Utility Interceptors at a total of $238,000; council approved that purchase unanimously. On the fire apparatus, staff presented authorization to purchase an Enforcer aerial ladder truck for $2,130,947; staff advised the vehicle has a roughly four-year manufacturing lead time and that the current frontline apparatus (built in 2009) would become a reserve unit once the new rig is delivered. Council approved the ladder truck purchase unanimously.
On labor, the council adopted a memorandum of understanding with the National City Municipal Employees Association that council members described as a step toward market-competitive wages while cautioning on longer-term fiscal sustainability. The council also approved a memorandum of understanding with the firefighters' association that secures retiree health care, moves members toward average regional pay, and includes a provision to staff one of four engines with four personnel as a step toward broader four-person staffing. Union representatives said the agreements improve recruitment and retention and help avoid imminent departures. Both labor agreements passed unanimously.
Council asked staff to monitor budgetary impacts and to return with analyses of long-term sustainability and revenue options; fire staff reiterated the ladder-truck lead time and operational transition plan.
