Elon’s town council has completed another leg of a three-year-long process that will eventually add a new fire engine to the municipality’s motor fleet.
The council voted 4-to-0 in favor of a budget amendment on Tuesday that clears the way for $1,104,586 to be transferred from the town’s savings to purchase the new vehicle from a firm called Atlantic Emergency Solutions.
The council had previously given the town’s fire chief Landon Massey the all-clear to firm up a deal with Atlantic in order to acquire this vehicle – one of two new fire engines that Massey insists he needs to keep his department’s rolling stock up to date.
By approving an allocation from the town’s savings on Tuesday, the council enabled the town to take advantage of a “pre-payment discount” that will shave $125,246 off the new fire engine’s sticker price. Its members also approved a “self-reimbursement” resolution that will allow the town to obtain an installment loan at some later date in order to backfill the funds that have been siphoned from the town’s savings.
Although the council has already authorized the payment to Atlantic, the company doesn’t expect to have the new vehicle ready for delivery for another 35 months.
The town had also endured a relatively long turnaround time for a $2 million ladder truck that arrived at the fire department earlier this year. Roedner put the total wait time for this vehicle somewhere in the neighborhood of two years, although he conceded that its delivery in May came a couple of months ahead of the promised date. The fire department formally unveiled the vehicle in a special ceremony this week that saw both Roedner and Elon’s mayor Emily Sharpe take a ride in the bucket at the end of the truck’s extendable ladder.
During Tuesday’s meeting, councilman Michael Woods asked Massey if he’s made any dispositions for the sale of the fire department’s old ladder truck since the arrival of its replacement.
“We haven’t officially advertised it,” the fire chief replied. “But we have put out word of mouth to those who are interested. We can’t formally sell it until we’ve made the transition.”
The council proceeded to vote 4-to-0 for the $1.1 million allocation in the absence of councilmember Stephanie Bourland, who was out during Tuesday’s gathering.
