Coldwater OKs fire truck purchase

COLDWATER - Village council members at Monday's meeting approved spending $450,000 on a new fire truck.

Councilman Doug Bertke made the recommendation from the finance committee, which had met earlier that night and supported buying a 2019 Pierce Pumper from Pierce Manufacturing Inc. of Bradenton, Florida. Money for the purchase will come from the village's capital improvement fire truck fund.

Fire chief Brent Forsthoefel said the new truck has a six-man closed cab and will replace the 1989 five-man open truck. This is the department's main firefighting truck. The new truck has the capability to pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute.

Bertke said ordering the truck now will save the village some money.

Village administrator/engineer Eric Thomas said Pierce would offer a $23,000 discount if the village included a $43,000 down payment now. Pierce does not accept trade-ins, so the current fire truck will be placed up for public bid when the new truck arrives next year, Thomas said. Delivery is expected in late September 2018.

Mayor Joe Knapschaefer also said he, Thomas, councilman Rich Branch and John Mueller of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had toured the newly acquired southwest woods. Knapschaefer said Mueller was excited about the woods and "told us some stuff that we probably never would have thought of for sure."

Mueller said some trees will need to be cut down as they provide too much foliage and prevent other trees from growing, according to the mayor.

"This is certainly a long-term project. Eric has asked them (ODNR) to help us come up with a 100-year plan for the woods, just like we have a 100-year plan for the village," Knapshaefer added.

Thomas said the first few years will focus on cleaning up the woods and clearing debris for a couple of paths.

"It's to try to re-establish the woods as it is. We want walking paths, obviously that is changing. But we want to get the native trees back," he told council.

Knapschaefer said officials will meet with ODNR representatives possibly next year and every two to three years after that as work progresses.

Under suspension of rules, council members approved an emergency resolution accepting the amounts and rates of levies as determined by the county budget commission and authorizing necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor.

A second emergency resolution was approved to accept the local government fund amount and rate determined by the Mercer County Budget Commission. The commission intends to distribute $87,741 in local government funds to the village. Finance director Jason Eyink said the local government fund is down a little from last year, but the money from the county real estate taxes is projected to increase.

Also on Monday, council members,

• heard from police chief Jason Miller that August reports are up 38 percent from last year.

• learned work has started on the new amphitheater. Footers have been poured and walls will be constructed soon.

• went into executive session for five minutes to discuss land. No action was taken.

• heard from Thomas that village crews have planted grass in areas that had work done this spring and summer. A couple of acres were planted this week.

• learned two more limb pickups are scheduled this year.