WILTON – Residents will have a chance to decide if the town will be able to take up to $190,000 from the undesignated fund to buy a new firetruck, selectmen decided Tuesday.

In an at-times tense Halloween meeting, selectmen met with members of the fire department and state Rep. Tom Saviello, I-Wilton, to discuss the issue, which has dogged the board for a 1 years.

Disagreements over what kind of truck to buy to supplement one elderly, and another middle-aged engine, seemed close to being resolved earlier this fall when selectmen asked Farmington-based consultant Paul Ripa to study the department’s needs.

Ripa suggested a mini-tanker, which could take over for the bigger, stronger Engine 7 for things like minor fires and car accidents, and save that expensive vehicle for structure fires. Fire Chief Sonny Dunham, however, balked at that idea, saying since the other big truck – Engine 5 – is 24 years old and often in the shop, the department needs a pumper/tanker with greater capacity than a mini-tanker.

Selectmen, Saviello and department members discussed the issue in detail on Tuesday, finally coming to the conclusion that, however you put it, what all parties involved want is a smaller engine with the capacity to move at least 750 gallons of water.

Selectmen voted 3 to 2 to hold a special town meeting on Dec. 5, when residents will vote on spending up to $190,000 from the undesignated fund balance for the purchase of an engine.

By the time the hourlong discussion was over, everybody in the room was laughing.

“Now I can sleep tonight,” Dunham said.