The exchange between Newcastle officials and the Newcastle Fire Co. regarding the proposed purchase of a new, $300,000-plus rescue pumper continued this week.
Newcastle Fire Chief Clayton Huntley and Casey Stevens, chairman of the board of trustees of the Newcastle Fire Co., addressed the concerns of the Newcastle Finance Committee (see “Newcastle Fire Co. Recommends Truck Purchase,” in the Jan. 20 edition of The Lincoln County News) in a Jan. 24 letter.
According to Huntley and Stevens, “a used truck is absolutely not an option,” as they are often unreliable. New trucks offer warranties and annual safety improvements as mandated by the National Fire Protection Association.
A Jan. 10 letter to Huntley from the Newcastle Finance Committee included news articles and commentaries regarding cooperative arrangements between other fire departments in the state.
According to Huntley and Stevens, the fire company “does not consider the articles… to be relevant due to the fact that they are up to nine years old.”
Huntley and Stevens declined to provide the fire company’s number of active volunteer personnel, structure fires, calls, volunteers responding to fires, fires requiring mutual aid and response time for calls over the last five years, as requested by the finance committee.
“Before investing in more trucks, isn’t it prudent to… examine response time performance factors as a key barometer of adequate staffing levels in relation to available apparatus [?]” the finance committee asked.
“The [Newcastle Fire Co.] Truck Committee considers Question #6… irrelevant to the purchase of a new truck,” Huntley and Stevens wrote. “We will provide the information if it is still needed but will need 60-90 days to compile the data. If at all possible [sic].”
The fire company has yet to respond to the concerns of the Newcastle Board of Selectmen and Newcastle Town Administrator Ron Grenier, as outlined in a Jan. 18 letter to the Newcastle Fire Co.
The Jan. 18 letter asked for specific information about mechanical issues with the two aging trucks the fire company hopes to replace, a possible state offer to fund the purchase of a pumper in the wake of the fall 2005 breach of the Sherman Lake dam (the lake was a “critical water source” for firefighting) and asked the fire company to explain why it did not ask the town to start a capital fund in keeping with the fire company’s commitment.
The letter requests information about the fire company’s current fleet and, specifically, a 2010 Ford F-250.
In the letter, Grenier expresses concern about the “timing, sequence and authority of the [Newcastle Fire Co.’s] going out to bid… for a new truck to be paid, maintained and insured with town funds.”
“The sole authority for initiating purchases on the town’s behalf to include bidding of specifications is legally governed in the Town of Newcastle’s ‘Purchasing and Bidding Ordinance,'” Grenier wrote. “That authority, however, is vested only in the board of selectmen…”
Huntley is scheduled to meet with the Newcastle Finance Committee at the Newcastle Town Office, Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. to discuss the issue.
