Fire Department announces plans to refurbish ladder truck instead of buying new

by Melissa Martin

Oct. 15 city council meeting

To save local taxpayers more than $1.5 million, Brecksville City Council approved legislation enabling the city’s administration to move forward with plans to refurbish the fire department’s aerial ladder truck.

Fire Chief Mark Bender told council members that the vehicle, which is 22 years old, has been maintained and regularly serviced over the years and the department has taken strides to ensure the truck’s pumps are certified. As a result, he said the vehicle’s engine and transmission remain in “very good working order.”

Once the vehicle is refurbished, he expects the department will be able to utilize the ladder truck for at least 10 to 15 more years.

By comparison, Bender told council that replacing the vehicle would likely cost the city upwards of $2 million. Additionally, due to manufacturing shortages, he also noted it would be at least four to five years for a new truck order to be fulfilled.

“What we’re trying to do right now is save the city a lot of money instead of spending another $2 million to purchase a new one,” Bender said, adding that the cost of the vehicle’s refurbishment is estimated at $350,000.

Bender said the city went out to bid for the refurbishment project in mid-October. Those bids were expected to be opened Nov. 7. The lowest and best bid would be presented to council for a vote at the Nov. 19 city council meeting.

Mayor Daryl Kingston said the project is being funded by money the fire department was able to accrue in recent years through the collection of non-resident EMS billing fees. He said former Fire Chief Nick Zamiska had been saving the funds for the past several years to fund the refurbishment project.

Councilmember Ann Koepke expressed her thanks to the city’s administration for the foresight.

“This is a great example of prudence by our city team just doing the best with our money and I appreciate that,” she said.

Council also approved a master safety inspection agreement with Life Safety Inspection Vault for the web-based management of the city’s inspection files. Bender said the agreement, which comes at no cost to the city, will enable the department to safely store files related to fire inspections with a third party.

“We will be able to immediately upload all the data to our current inspection files,” Bender said.

In other news, Service Director Joe Kickel said asked council to approve legislation authorizing the city’s service department to apply for grant funding through the Cuyahoga County Road Reimbursement program. If the city receives those funds, he said the city intends to use the money to pave its portion of Wallings Road in 2025.

Kickel said the city applies for the funding, which covers the costs of material but not labor, on an annual basis as part of its preventative maintenance program. This year, Brecksville’s share of that county funding was used to cover the costs of repaving a stretch of Riverview Road, near the Cuyahoga Valley Nation Park’s maintenance building.

With council’s authorization to apply for the grant, Kickel will return to council this fall with cost estimates for the project.

Kickel also requested council’s approval for an additional $5,000 in cost overruns on the renovation of the former police department at Brecksville City Hall.

Council approved plans in May to renovate the former police station, which has not been used since the city opened the new police station in 2019. As part of the $50,000 project, which is being performed by service department employees, the city has been renovating the space into additional city offices, a new employee lunchroom, a new copy room and more.

Kickel told council the final touches on two offices and a hallway were still being completed with the new areas expected to be complete by Dec. 31.

Council also approved:

The purchase of a vehicle exhaust extraction system at a cost of $45,187. The former unit was lost in the fire that damaged the service department’s mechanics shop last winter. The new unit will be installed in the new mechanics shop, which is being rebuilt, and will be paid for by insurance.

The purchase and servicing of three standalone fire alarm systems for the city’s service garage at a cost of $1,810 per year, which includes a one-time activation charge. ∞