Finance Committee - 9/5/2018 Page 4
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
You are getting matching funds or something on this one?
Chief Rhodes
With the Federal AFG Grant they say it is a 10% match but it isn’t a 10% match, | think it comes out to, my
math and | think your math would be $65,000.00 but it actually isn’t, it is $59,000.00 and change, the way the
Government computes it.
Mayor Donchess
So we are getting a $650,000.00 vehicle in essence for $59,000.00.
Chief Rhodes
Well the reality of it is we are getting closer to a $700,000.00 vehicle for the $650,000.00 for the $59,000.00
investment.
Mayor Donchess
Of local money.
Chief Rhodes
Of local money correct and we anticipate a minimum of 15 years before replacement.
Mayor Donchess
Any questions or discussion?
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you Mr. Mayor. Chief, as a former employee | don’t want to get too much but | compliment you and your
staff for looking at an item such as this and combining different vehicles and getting into one vehicle which is
fiscally prudent to the tax payer and will definitely assist this Department. To explain that further, could you say
what this vehicle is going to do because you mentioned technical equipment which | have an understanding
on, but could you explain to the people at home what this vehicle will be capable of doing and how much of an
asset it will be to this community?
Chief Rhodes
Absolutely and thank you for your kind words Alderman. So currently we provide hazardous materials
response to 19 communities that are in the Souhegan Valley. All of those neighboring communities pay
basically a stipend for all the things it takes to run a hazardous materials team; equipment and physicals and
training and there is a lot that goes into it. So that is a huge bonus to us as a community.
Right now we have two vehicles that are assigned to the Hazardous Materials Response and we have one
vehicle that is actually, well two of the vehicles are repurposed. One of the vehicles is | believe it was a
Bellavance old style hackney body beer delivery truck that we are still using. The second vehicle was a
commercial cab and chassis that started out life as one of the water supply vehicles that we had back in the
day and was turned into an air supply unit in-house by the mechanical division.
What that gives us is for fires which even today more so than before when Alderman O’Brien was there, we
really would with the onset of the cancer issue that is popping up in firefighters and all that, we are really
