Ferrysburg council approves $646,095 bid for new fire truck

Ferrysburg City Council on Feb. 2 approved a $646,095 bid from Spencer Manufacturing to replace the department's aging pumper and authorized a $650,000 amendment to the vehicle replacement fund to pay for the purchase.

City staff said they solicited quotes from six vendors and received three responses; the fire department reviewed the submissions and recommended Spencer, a South Haven-based vendor that supplied the city's previous apparatus. "They're out of South Haven. They've done our last truck," Craig (city staff) said when presenting the recommendation. The motion passed on a roll call.

The fire chief told council the new apparatus will be essentially a like-for-like replacement: "It's basically replacing almost exactly what we have," he said. Councilors pressed staff on procurement details: why the city used an invitation-style solicitation rather than a public posting, whether staff verified respondents' claims against the detailed bid specifications, and whether the council had reviewed lifecycle or 20-year carrying costs.

The chief said bid responses included spec-compliance sheets and that six fire officers jointly reviewed the packet before recommending the low, local bid. He also said the department commonly sells retired apparatus and expected the city could do the same with the old vehicle.

Council members urged continued exploration of shared services and cooperative purchases with neighboring Spring Lake Township to reduce future costs. Staff told the council it would return with any required contract documents and next procedural steps; the bid award authorizes staff to move forward with the purchase process.

The council approved the related budget amendment and the purchase by roll call vote.