Town moves ahead with firetruck bid

CORNWALL — A bid from KME Fire Apparatus has been approved by the Board of Selectmen for a new pumper for the West Cornwall firehouse. The Pennsylvania company’s bid was one of three opened at an Aug. 5 board meeting. Its bid of $315,303 was just slightly more than the lowest bid, and well under a top bid of $382,749.

The town made its last firetruck purchase, a pumper for the Cornwall Bridge firehouse, through KME , and was very satisfied. The specifications devised by a special committee of the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department called for essentially an identical truck.

In considering the bids, the selectmen kept in mind the $300,000 accumulated in a capital fund toward the purchase. The KME bid was whittled down through the elimination of some options to hit that mark. That allows the board to make the approval without going to a town meeting.  

But it is proposing an add-on expense of about $15,000 to purchase new hoses and ladders. Equipment can be taken from the old pumper, but there is concern that that’s what happened the last time around, making those hoses and such really old. It is also uncertain that they will work properly with the new truck.

“It doesn’t make sense to buy a new truck and have hoses and ladders that don’t work,� First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said. “We have about $35,000 left over in a repair line from the Cornwall Bridge firehouse renovation. We will ask the Board of Finance to consider approving a transfer from that line item.�

The finance board meets next in September, but the firetruck order is in. A KME representative told the selectmen at the Aug. 5 meeting that the bid was good only for 21 days. A large cost increase was expected after that.

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