FARMINGTON — Selectmen Tuesday, Nov. 24, approved selling a surplus firetruck and purchasing a vehicle for the police department.
Last November, voters approved borrowing $500,000 and using $300,000 from surplus to purchase a replacement for Engine 1, a 2003 Pierce DASH rescue pumper that has had corrosion and electrical issues for a few years.
“It’s been on auction for two weeks at Auction International,” Farmington Fire Rescue Chief Terry Bell said. “The auction closed at 7 last night and we got a $26,100 bid. Myself and the managers thought that was a good price. A couple of years ago, they were only going to give us $5,000 at different manufacturers.”
The town will need to pay the auction company $35, Bell noted.
The board also approved Interim Police Chief Shane Cote’s request to bid on a low mileage 2014 Ford Interceptor SUV and transfer balances in the COPS Grant Reserve and the 2016 Byrne JAG Grant Reserve, totaling almost $18,621, to the Police Vehicle Reserve Account.
“The Town of Guilford is putting their police cruiser out to bid. Guilford is going back to the sheriff’s department for coverage,” Cote said. “It was purchased by Guilford in 2014 and has 30,000 miles on it.”
If successful, Guilford would need to be replaced with Farmington on the cruiser, he said.
“The reason we’re looking at this is we had three cars in for repairs last week,” Cote said. “This would be a spare to start, then replace one of the oldest sedans, a 2013 with 110,000 miles on it.”
The COPS and Byrne JAG accounts have been sitting on the books for awhile and there is no paperwork in the office on the COPS account, he said.
“I’m thinking the COPS grant was back in 1998 when Shane Campbell was hired,” Cote said.
“We haven’t touched it in 10 years,” he said. “On the Byrne JAG, the money was never taken out of that line. The money was taken out of the operational budget.”
Cote would like to get those accounts off the books.
“These are grants we haven’t done anything with and aren’t going to,” he added.
Cote spoke of state statute information provided by Town Manager Richard Davis prior to the meeting. “The balance of any account of a reserve fund may be transferred to another reserve account or to surplus when the purpose for which it was established has been accomplished or abandoned,” it states.
When asked, Cote said there is $25,000 in the vehicle reserve account without the transfer of funds.
The Kelly Blue Book value for the 2014 Interceptor is $12,900, Cote said. Considering the equipment it comes with, Cote said the department’s bid would be higher than that but didn’t disclose the actual amount.
Selectman Michael Fogg said it would be a good idea to have a spare.
“I trust your judgment,” he added.
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