Evanston aldermen will be asked Monday to approve two measures designed to improved the city’s supply of reserve fire vehicles for use when newer ones are out of service for repairs.
City staff wants to replace a 1990 Pierce Arrow ladder truck it now keeps in reserve with a 2006 Pierce Dash ladder truck being marketed by Command Fire Apparatus of Landisville, Pennsylvania, for $165,000.
The city’s most recent purchases of new ladder trucks cost $958,000 in 2011 and over $1 million in 2015.
In a memo to aldermen, Sean Ciolek, the city’s fleet manager, says the National Fire Protection Association recommends that apparatus over 25 years old should be replaced and that the city’s fleet mechanics estimate the existing truck has reached its serviceable life.
The purchase is being funded by the Evanston Foreign Fire Tax Board, which receives funds from a tax imposed by the state on out-of-state insurance companies selling fire insurance here.
The city will reimburse the EFFTB half of the initial cost in three installments between 2022 and 2024.
According to material provided to the aldermen, the vendor has agreed to make a variety of repairs to the truck and to repaint it to match the Evanston department’s red and white color scheme.
The other proposal up for a vote would approve an intergovernmental agreement between Evanston and Wilmette that would let the two municipalities borrow reserve fire and EMS vehicles from each other at no cost when either community has no available reserve units of its own to maintain in-service equipment levels.