OXFORD — Oxford’s Select Board took a pass on skipping town procedure in its quest for a new fire truck. During a July 18 business meeting, Fire Chief Ashley Wax-Armstrong presented a plan to acquire a new fire truck that would take years off the time for delivery, but require signing a sales agreement without taking in competitive bids..

During the meeting, Wax-Armstrong told selectmen that while researching options for a new pumper truck to replace the town’s Engine 5, which is more than 20 years old, she found an opportunity to purchase a Ford F550 chassis and have it be outfitted for service and delivered in seven months.

Oxford voters approved a capital improvements expenditure of $300,000 during town meeting in June for a new, smaller pumper truck that will more easily navigate lakefront camp roads than the larger engines.

While standard practice dictates it can take up to three years to receive public safety vehicles, Lakes Region Fire Apparatus, and Alexis Fire Equipment dealer located in Ossipee, NH, inventories base trucks that it outfits to order specifications.

While the time for a new chassis to be delivered from truck manufacturer to outfitter is often a main cause in the delay municipalities face when ordering new equipment, Wax-Armstrong explained that Lakes Region stocks different models so building out the apparatus starts as soon as a contract is signed.

Lakes Region has a Ford F550 four-wheel-drive on hand that fits the fire department’s capital request, Wax-Armstrong said.

She has been in contact with fire departments from western to midcoast Maine that are utilizing the mini-pumper trucks.

The Oxford Fire Department’s Engine 1. Officials are hunting for a mini-pumper truck that will improve accessibility to narrow lakefront lanes. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

The estimate she received from Lakes Region for the outfitted F550 came in at $491,000. Wax-Armstrong said she has eliminated about a dozen features from the spec sheet, but had not received a revised estimate yet.

“We’re hoping to get it down to the $450-460 mark,” she explained to the board. Eliminating one thing Oxford would not need, a rear suction, had already decreased the cost by $11,000. “They will set aside a chassis. If we want, it we would bypass RFP, which is what I’m asking you to do. We could have the truck here in February.

“If we go out to RFP, which would take 30 days,  then we pick the bid and award it. To go that route would take two to three years. But where Alexis has the chassis in stock and is able to meet everything we want and then some, we were hoping to with this specific truck.”

Oxford would have to pay outright for the chassis, which will cost about $78,000, which would be covered by the $300,000 capital reserve.

“We wouldn’t pay thing else until it’s ready,” she said. “We can or lease-to-purchase or pay outright, however you would choose to do that.”

Select Board Vice-Chair Dana Dillingham noted that $491,000 is significantly more than what was budgeted and said he had heard recently about neighboring fire departments that had gone in together on a similar truck for around $300,000.

“Rumford got one about six months ago,” Wax-Armstrong answered. “Several of our per diems work in Rumford and they’ve said they say that truck’s out of service more than it’s in service.

“They’re having trouble getting the dealer back to fix a lot of the issues they’ve been having with it. They paid around the $320K mark, and they’re certainly paying for that now.”

“I am not in favor of bypassing the bid process,” Selectman Scott Hunter said. “And then there is the fact that we had a pump, and it was dismantled at the first of the year so obviously there is not that big a rush. I would prefer we go the bid process and see what we get for prices.”

Dillingham said he concurred that following the RFP policy is important, especially when the first estimate came back at such a high price.

“If you come back with a better number, closer to $350-$400? I think we could revisit it then,” he said. “But without a definitive number I don’t want to go forward with buying this truck for $78,000 and then wait and see what it will be” for a total cost.

Town Manager Adam Garland said he and Wax-Armstrong will start preparing a request for proposal and post it with a 30-day deadline for bids.