Glencoe Township, city officials discuss fire truck

Three members of the Glencoe Township Board and the Glencoe City Council met at the city’s Personnel and Legislative Committee meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss the fire rescue truck and the available financing options for the truck.
Tim Haag, treasurer, Duane Haag, supervisor, and Bruce Bargmann, supervisor and chairman of Glencoe Township, were present at the meeting, along with Glencoe Fire Chief Ron Grack, City Administrator Mark Larson and Mayor Randy Wilson. All members of the Glencoe City Council were present.
Larson started off the meeting by summarizing the history of the truck purchase to date, starting in February when the Glencoe Fire Department and the townships began to look at fire rescue trucks options to replace the existing 1993 truck and ending with Council Member Cory Neid requesting to table any action on the truck so more discussion between the city and the townships could take place.
In terms of payment history, the townships requested that the city of Glencoe arrange different financing options for some of the townships which have larger payments due to building valuation. Initially, the city was looking at a two-payment option for the townships; it was then requested that the townships have the same five-year payment arrangement as the city. Larson met with First Bankers and arranged for that payment option to be available for the townships that need it. The interest to the townships will be 2.35 percent.
The discussion at the meeting involved many different topics including whether or not the fire department could purchase a used truck instead of a new one, if the rescue truck purchase could be put off a few months to give townships more time to come up with the money, and what the townships and the city can do in the future to avoid the issues that have made this fire truck purchase particularly difficult.
Neid explained that he has been given mixed information about why the Glencoe Fire Department needs the new truck.
“I’ll be the first to say that I did agree to purchasing this, right off the bat,” said Neid. “I know when it was first brought to my attention, it was a space needs issue for the fire department. They wanted a bigger truck to haul all their equipment on. Since we tabled it, I’ve been hearing now they’re worried about the reliability of the one they have. Granted, the truck is 24 years old but it only has 9,000 miles on it … I would actually like us to look at other options as in possibly finding a used one… (or) if we’re looking for more space for life-saving equipment, is it possible to order a trailer to pull behind one of these trucks?”
For more about the issue, see the Oct. 11 print edition of The Chronicle.