WINSLOW — Winslow officials moved to replace one of the town’s fire trucks after learning that its existing truck will fail its upcoming state inspection.

The Town Council unanimously voted in favor of an order to buy a pumper for no more than $644,000 at its meeting Tuesday night. It also unanimously voted to waive a second vote on that order, clearing the town manager to make the lease-purchase immediately.

Town Manager Mike Heavener said the current pumper, which the town has owned for 15 years, has problems with rust that would make it fail its annual state inspection in January.

“Last year’s inspection indicated everything was OK and there was no concern about the frame or rusting,” Heavener told the Morning Sentinel before Tuesday’s meeting. “This year — the firefighters inspect the truck weekly and they happened to notice there was a shackle that had broken off one of the leaf springs, so they took it to a garage to fix it. When the mechanic was looking at it, he said this truck will not pass inspection due to rust on the frame. Two other individuals looked at it and said the same thing — it will not pass inspection.”

Heavener said he and Fire Chief Ronnie Rodriguez “feel it’s prudent to make a decision about replacing the truck sooner rather than later,” as the January inspection deadline approaches. The garages that looked at the truck this year included one shop in Winslow, where the truck has been inspected in the past, one in Waterville and one in a location Heavener could not confirm Tuesday.

“The location of the rust was in a spot that wouldn’t be routinely inspected, so it really didn’t come to light until the shackle broke (and) that revealed the extent of the rusting,” Heavener said to explain why the problem is only coming to light now.

The vehicle will be financed with a five-year lease at an annual cost of $137,000. Councilors unanimously supported the five-year term over seven- and 10-year options in order to minimize the interest it would have to pay, per Councilor Ken Fletcher’s suggestion. They preferred a lease-purchase agreement over an upfront purchase so that the municipal budget would be less impacted. In making the decision, the officials also pointed out that the town is looking to replace the fire department’s ladder truck in the next 12 to 16 months.

Over five years, the town would pay $685,000 for the truck, or $41,000 in interest over the purchase price.

“With this (lease) in place, it sets us up for the best future,” said Councilor Ray Caron, who led the meeting in Chairman Steve Russell’s absence. “We will have some cash reserves we can use to chew at some of the costs (of the ladder truck).”

Rodriguez called the price of the pumper an “astronomical deal.” He voiced that he was “extremely sensitive” to the necessity of making multiple large purchases in a short span of time and thanked the town officials for approving the spending.

Conversations about the ladder truck are expected to begin in December or January, Caron said.

Funding will come from a combination of the fire department’s capital account and the sale of the town’s industrial building on Benton Avenue, which currently houses Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Orion Ropeworks, according to Heavener. Johnny’s Selected Seeds will complete its purchase of part of the building that it currently leases Nov. 19 for $1.65 million, Heavener said.

Orion Ropeworks has expressed interest in buying the portion of the complex it currently occupies if it is able to get the financing together. The council discussed the sale of that part of the building in an executive session Tuesday night, according to Heavener, after which no action was taken. Heavener noted Tuesday afternoon that he hoped the executive session would offer guidance as to when the town would be able to sell to Orion Ropeworks or otherwise put the property on the market.

The vote on the fire truck comes amid a separate but protracted conversation among town officials about expanding the fire and rescue department by forming a municipal ambulance service. The town currently contracts with Delta Ambulance Service to transport patients to the hospital after Winslow rescue crews respond to calls and stabilize patients. Rodriguez has expressed that he thinks Winslow can add a revenue stream by being able to collect the transport fees that Delta currently earns instead. A municipal ambulance committee has been looking into this possibility for about a year and is awaiting cost estimates from the chief, according to members of the committee. That committee will next meet on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. and will discuss whether to hire a third-party analyst to provide insights on the costs and benefits of adding the service.

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