The Smithville  City Council, with Alderman Steve White sitting in for Mayor Taft Hendrixson, approved funds to purchase a ladder truck for the Smithville Fire Department at their regular meeting Monday night.
The mayor was absent due to medical problems, and White, who is vice mayor, sat in for him at the meeting.
The controversial purchase of the new engine, which has been discussed for several years, was approved by a unanimous vote after Alderman Shawn Jacobs read a letter from Lori Poss, wife of firefighter John Poss, (the entire letter was published as a letter to the editor in the Review last week) just before the close of the meeting.
The emotional letter, which chronicles the sacrifices made by firefighters and their families and the stress these families experience as a result of the dangerous nature or a firefighters daily routine, prompted Jacobs to make a motion that the city immediately set aside money to be earmarked for a new ladder truck.
“ We do not ask our police officers to go into a domestic without a gun, nor do we ask our EMS to work a wreck without an ambulance. So why would we ask our firefighters to go to a building fully engulfed without the proper equipment and gear? We do not ask our other emergency services to be volunteers. So why should we expect our firefighters to volunteer their services when it is such a dangerous job?” Poss said in the letter.
The council voted 5-0 to approve the motion to advertise for bids for a new or demonstration ladder truck and to fund it under a lease-purchase plan.
The fire department recently held a public meeting at City Hall to discuss the need for the new truck.
Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker said at that meeting that the department’s recommendation is that the council make funds available to make a down payment and enter into a five-year lease-purchase agreement on a new truck.
The department’s suggestion is that the city purchase a 75-foot ladder truck in order to be prepared to fight larger fires at some of the larger buildings in town.
The chief said that there was some variance in the price of such a truck, but the price of the demo unit that the department recently tested was approximately $680,000.
He said that many demo trucks are still available.
“We were at a weekend training class in Sevierville the weekend before last, and  we saw some demo trucks that are still available,” he said.
“Talking with some truck manufacturers, they are expecting raw price increases coming in the next month or two,” Parker continued.
“The 2001 truck that we bought was a demo unit and we got it at a pretty substantial price difference than what we had actually bid,”  he said. “It was already made. It had probably 99 percent of the specs that we (required) except for a few minor things they had to change. That's one way there could be a cheaper price for a truck. We can put it in the budget for next year or we could continue to wait.”
“It’s up to the citizens,” Parker said. “It’s up to the board. Our goal for the Smithville Fire Department is the protection of our citizens.”
The board’s decision came despite a suggestion from Faye Sandosky, a concerned citizen who addressed the board at the beginning of Monday night’s meeting suggesting that the matter of a new truck be decided by public referendum.
"Before buying a ladder truck, I think we need to know how many ladder-truck necessary fires we have per year,” Sandosky said. “We also need to define what we do with the two trucks we now own. Maybe if we have fewer than 10 structure fires per year on average, maybe we don't need a full-time force waiting at the station. I'm not clear on exactly what they would be doing.”
She also expressed concerns about the use of the city’s reserve funds and purchase possibly causing a tax hike.
“We, the citizens and taxpayers, need to know how these initiatives separately or together affect the current tax base,” She remarked, “I think before the board starts serious deliberations about if and how to spend the citizens reserve funds, we need more facts based on what we have to have, not what we would like to have. I do want to be clear that our firemen certainly sacrifice a lot along with their families to keep us safe and I appreciate everything that they do. I thank them for everything they do. Finally, I just might add that an appropriate response to these two high-ticketed initiatives might be a public referendum," said Sandosky.
Jacobs stressed in making the motion that the truck could be purchased without affecting the city tax rate.
"Given the facts detailed in this letter, reaction from the recent fire department ladder truck informational meeting, and comments from numerous other city residents, I make the following motion,”  Jacobs said. “That the city immediately advertise for bids for a new or demonstration ladder truck meeting the specifications enumerated by Chief Parker and that said ladder truck be paid for under a lease purchase plan or financial arrangement as determined by this board as the plan most beneficial to the city. Since the city has more than the anticipated cost of the ladder truck in its financial reserves, this should result in no tax increase,”  Jacobs concluded.