The city’s downtown fire station is expected to be modified within 90 days to make room for the ladder truck purchased earlier this month, a move prompting media reports and questions at the last city council meeting.
The city expects to spend about $130,000 on design and installation of a new bay door for the $867,742 Pierce Enforcer, a demonstrator purchased with cash on hand, rather than through financing, due to the need to replace it as quickly as possible.
“A ladder truck is a crucial piece of fire apparatus. The city expedited the deployment of the replacement vehicle for this reason,” Lebanon City Manager Pat Clements said Monday in response to questions about the purchase.
During a work session next week, the city council is scheduled to discuss financing the truck purchase next year and reimbursing the general fund. But the council has already indicated it will support this plan, Clements said.
“The ordinance declaring the intent to reimburse the general fund is a two-reading ordinance since it is not time sensitive,” Clements said in a series of emails that contended this newspaper’s previous report on the truck purchase was written “to create controversy where none exists.”