Pinckneyville Votes Up to $340,000 For New Fire Department Truck
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Pinckneyville City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a 1,000 gallon pumper truck from Macs Fire and Safety. A purchase agreement was placed on file for public inspection and will be approved at the next meeting.
Commissioner of Public Health and Safety Marty Beltz said the city has applied for multiple grants to purchase a new pumper over the past few years. They have not been successful. There is no choice, but to buy a new pumper truck or risk losing points on the city's ISO rating.
The estimated cost of the pumper is $340,000. However, the city can expect to pay $15,000 to $18,000 less than that because they opted to use an engine built to the 2007-2008 EPA standards. The engine is brand new. It simply costs less than the new engines built to the 2010 EPA standards.
Russ Campbell of Macs Fire and Safety said his company purchased as many of the 2007-08-standard engines as possible. The are down to only two. He promised to reserve one of them for Pinckneyville.
The city owns two pumpers. They will replace the 1978 pumper with the new one. The other is 17-years old. Pumpers have a life of 20 to 25 years.
Mayor Joe Holder said that the purchase requires no money down. The city has nine to 10 months to shop for a suitable 10-year loan to finance the purchase.
Delivery of the truck is expected in about 10 months.
Commissioner Beltz said that in addition to the savings on the engine, there is a $2,000 contingency built into the price. The city hopes to save all or most of that cost, as well.
Fire Chief Jim Gielow said the city's ISO rating is a five and the Rural Fire Department rating is an eight.
The council approved the annexation of the site for the new Pinckneyville Community Hospital. It will sit on approximately 29.8 acres of land that was contiguous to the city on three sides.
Hospital CEO Tom Hudgins said the annexation will allow the new hospital to receive a better fire insurance rate.
In other business, the council:
heard from Finance Commissioner Augie Kellerman that the state owes $1,137,211 in utility payments for the Pinckneyville Correctional Center. "We're holding our own," he said. "Eventually if the state doesn't pay us, we're going to have to do something. The General Fund keeps going down."
approved a $3,500 contribution to Pinckneyville Community High School to install a grass playing surface at Rigdon Baseball Field. Total cost of the project is $7,000. PCHS is paying half the cost. The grass surface will put Pinckneyville in the running to host additional baseball and softball tournaments. Commissioner Kellerman said Pinckneyville may host the Junior American Legion five-day State Tournament this year. The $3,500 will be taken from the hotel/motel tax fund. Mayor Holder warned that there is only $3,000 in the fund that has not been committed to other projects, but said he would make small adjustments to other projects to make it work, if necessary. The final cost of the city's new website will determine if cuts are necessary.
passed a resolution to change medical providers. Coverage will remain the same. The new provider offers additional programs that could result in a significant savings to the city.
passed a resolution authorizing the sale of surplus equipment from the Utility Department. Commissioner Dave Stone said the equipment for sale will include pipe, rails, pumps and ag gear. "That's money on the ground," Stone said.
approved a contract with Utility Services to inspect the east and west water towers at a cost of $1,500 for hte west tower and $1,750 for the east tower.