City Council Lurches Forward With Fire Truck Plan

July 20’s city council meeting proved a kinetic affair replete with town-altering decisions and the reactionary, hot-steam discord which oft accompanies the dynamism of purpose in such high anxiety scenarios. Change sends the flustered mind into a panic if one stops to inhale the fetid scent of its rotting roses.

The council’s steady conviction towards action over the course of last Monday’s hour-plus-long session spared it from disagreement’s and miscommunication’s dual debilitations; questions into the perhaps irresponsible actions of others, both present and not, at the Glasgow Recreational Center that evening, were mere pock marks on the nether regions of a grand visage whose hard-staring eyes, though not omniscient, beheld a concise plan for the immediate betterment of the town it had been deemed fit to represent.

After agreeing to award T & R Trucking the city’s solid waste contract at the value of $227, 910.95, the agenda surged forward into a discussion of fire trucks, the topic which dominated the council’s previous session two weeks prior. City Clerk Stacey Amundson provided an estimate of the applicable tax figures which would apply to Glasgow residents if the council were to approve a loan of $350,000 and amortize it over a 15-year period. At an estimated interest rate of 1.25 percent, the annual total the city would owe was roughed to a $25,601.28 estimate, or 20 cents per annum per 100 square feet of property owned. The council aproved the motion after consulting once again with Fire Department representative Brandon Brunelle on the relative merits of Quint trucks and platform trucks.

“Glasgow,” Brunelle intoned, “would be better served financially and on a day-to-day basis with a Quint” – though he was quick to add that if the council were willing to provide the capital for the more-costly Platform model, he would not oppose. Brunelle informed the representatives that platforms have “more parts, are more costly, and require more maintenance” than Quints, and that in his view, even when concerning a hypothetical fire at Valley View Nursing Home, the Quint ladder would prove faster and ensure the safety of a greater number of people.

There will be a resolution sent to all taxpayers concerning the proposal, after which a 15-day protest period will commence. This will be followed by a public hearing after which, if less than 51 percent of attendees dissent the order, the proposal will stand. After the town’s go-ahead, the council will wait one-to-two months for the approval of an Intercap loan; then, the fire department is free to begin in earnest its search for a used Quint.

After fire trucks, discourse turned to the cemetery. The council approved a motion to increase opening and closing fees by $350.00 to cover the cost of the new standard of vaults the city plans to purchase. Residents withhold the right to waive the cost if they eschew town standard and opt for the old, less-expensive model.

The city attorney search continues. The special committee’s report was met with a motion to rebid the entire process at a flat rate rather than select one of the current candidates’ proposals. Some members of the council voiced frustration that they had not been privy to any information regarding the process prior to that night’s meeting, a sentiment which gave rise to a low, tittering chorus of conflicting nits from the mayor and councilpersons alike.

Further issue was taken when the absence of Public Works Director Bob Kompel was brought to bear. In this case, the council strode forward as one in its conviction that Mr. Kompel’s absences had grown too frequent.

But life goes on.

Also agreed was an incremental increase in water and sewer service prices of two percent per year, and to continue base rate charges for those requesting their water be shut off in the winter.

Department head reports brought word that the construction crew had broken ground at Candy Cane Park, commencing work on the long-planned, yet heretofore inactive project –a concrete iteration of the council’s decision-making processes, however fractious or concordant, blossoming into fruition.