By Ryan Lewis
Correspondent
KIMBALL, Tenn. – While city officials have been planning to buy a new rescue truck, they also want to upgrade some of the equipment that will be installed when they get it.
At the October meeting of the Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen, city administrators approved the purchase of the rescue truck’s chassis and a new hydraulic pump to operate tools such as the Jaws of Life.
The board accepted a $43,593 bid from Moss Motors Co. in South Pittsburg, Tenn., for the new chassis.
Officials said the low bid came in only about $200 more than what they had anticipated.
Vice Mayor Rex Pesnell said the hydraulic pump will cost Kimball about $6,500, but ordering it now would save the town around $1,700.
“It’s a pump that we’re going to want when we get our new truck anyway,” he said. “If we go ahead and order it now, we could save a lot of money on it.”
Pesnell said there was enough money in the fire and rescue department’s budget for the pump, but some money would have to be moved from other line items such as communications and repair and maintenance to cover the cost.
“It was just a matter of whether we wanted to save some money and go ahead and order it now or wait and pay more for it later,” he said.
Kimball Fire Chief Jeff Keef said including the order for the pump in with a larger order from multiple departments saved money.
“The bigger the order, the better deal you get,” he said. “If we can get the pump in with a big order, then they can cut the cost of the pump.”
Keef said Kimball would keep its current gas-powered pump as an alternate or backup option.
“Everybody’s going to the electric pump mounted on the [rescue] truck,” he said. “We’re just trying to update it. If the truck is running, the pump is going to run. I just thought I’d try to save the city some money if I could get this put in with that big order.”
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
$43,593 – Cost of truck chassis
$200 – How much price exceeded estimate
$6,500 – Cost of hydraulic pump
$1,700 – Savings by ordering pump now
Source: Kimball city officials