Membership Votes To Purchase Replacement For Truck 1

At a special meeting tonight, the membership of the fire department voted unanimously to move forward with the purchase of a replacement for Truck 1. The current Truck 1, a 1978 Seagrave 100' Rear Admiral aerial has reached the its replacement age of 30 years. The department began to work with the village to plan for a replacement two months ago. The committee that was established began gathering prices to have an idea of how much they would have to come up with when a high quality used apparatus was made available. This 2005 Seagrave 100' Mid-Mount Tower Max aerial platform was available at the Seagrave factory and had only 9 months of active service with its previous department. The committee traveld to the Seagrave factory to inspect the truck to see if it would meet our needs. Committee Chairperson Mike Morgan described the truck as " exactly what we would have spec'd had we built a truck from scratch". The price tag of the used unit at $685,000.00 was significantly less than a similar new unit which could move into the $1.2 million range or higher. The Village Board and the Town Board have each pledged $200,000.00 toward the purchase of the truck. Additional funding is being sought from St. Lawrence University, SUNY Canton, United Helpers, and the Canton Housing Authority. After a presentation by the committee members asked a number of questions. When all the members were satisfied, Past Chief Emerson T. Forbes made the motion to purchase the apparatus. This was especially significant as Past Chief Forbes had made the same motion on the two previous ladder trucks that the department has owned in the course of his 60+ years of service. It is expected that the new Truck 1 will be delivered within 30-45 days.