March 29, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
With the recent arrival of a new fire truck, the City of Smithville will soon be selling the oldest fire engine in the fleet and it may go to the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department.
City officials conducted an opening of sealed bids Thursday afternoon at city hall on the sale of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department’s 1992 truck.
Two bids were received.
The DeKalb County government had the highest bid at $30,000 and a total bid on behalf of the City of Alexandria was $28,770 which included $27,270 by the town government plus $1,500 by the Alexandria Firefighters Association.
City officials will recommend that the county’s bid be approved when the mayor and aldermen meet in regular monthly session Monday night, April 2 at 6 p.m. at city hall.
The county already has funding in place to purchase the truck from a USDA Community Facility Grant of $15,000 with a $28,000 local match for a total project amount of $43,000 which is budgeted in the county’s capital projects fund. The grant was approved in April 2017 for firefighting equipment, protective gear, and other resources. County Mayor Tim Stribling filed for the grant with the approval of the county commission. In August, 2017, the county received approval for a second USDA grant of $16,000 also with a local match.
In January, the city received a new Pierce Impel PUC Rescue Pumper, which is a combination fire engine/rescue vehicle. The new truck cost the city $751, 575.
In addition to the new fire truck, the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department has two others, a 2001 model along with a 2012 ladder truck.