Finance Committee - 01/15/2020 Page 3
Fire Chief Rhodes
Correct. As | said, this is a scheduled replacement but out of respect for the Board and the work that it takes to
put the planning and logistics of one of these vehicles together, we didn’t want to rush it last year in 19 at the
end of the year. Yes the city has taken the stance many years ago that vehicles of this dollar amount will be
bonded. This will be contingent upon a bond sale.
Mayor Donchess
| think there’s a public hearing scheduled. | forgot what date. Any questions or comments for the Fire
Department?
Alderman O’Brien
| do have one. The ’95 Pierce that’s currently the spare. Is that the one that’s breaking down is or is it one of
the newer Pierce’s is the one that has some mechanical and if it does, has Pierce looked at that? | know years
ago we had a problem with pumping with Pierce overheating at fires and everything. Just wonder if they’re
working to address this. | understand mechanical, electronics, and there’s a whole new avenue where we
used to pull levers. Now everything is electronic and that little switch can break. | understand all that but are
they trying to get beyond that?
Fire Chief Rhodes
Alderman yes. Unfortunately all of our apparatus are controlled by computers and that is the single most point
of problem we have. | can say that between our mechanical staff which are second to none, the local
dealership in Walpole, Massachusetts, and the manufacturer, they've been very responsive to try to fix what’s
happening. With that being said, they allotted us a dollar amount for kind of the problems we’ve been incurring
to bring the price of this vehicle down. You can see that it was written for not to exceed $1.4 million and we’re
coming in at $1.3 million.
Alderman O’Brien
Thank you. Mr. Mayor thank you. It’s more of a statement at this point. I’m glad that you mentioned that Chief
because we are spending good money but if they are owning up and | understand mechanical failure on
anything electronic. | had my Jeep the battery died and it caused more issues. | couldn’t put the thing into
neutral believe it not. | never saw anything like it in my life. Anyway such as the way the electronics work.
They are compensating for this, | think because | love Pierce. Pierce is pretty much reliable. | worked with
them for many years other than the Macs and it is a good company. Thank you Chief for that information.
Mayor Donchess
Any other questions or comments?
Alderwoman Lu
My question is I’m not quite clear on whether the vote will be to approve purchase of this but if it is, | had a
question. So it’s contingent on the bond which is going to be voted on at the next BOA meeting. | noticed that
the price is good through January 31* and then there’s a 3 percent increase. Do you expect that? Are we
looking to make this purchase by January 31°'?
Deputy Chief Steve Buxton
Steve Buxton — Nashua Fire. Yes to avoid the 3 percent price increase, we’d be looking to make that purchase
prior to January 31°.
