OK, let's discuss this new Salisbury Fire Department Ladder Truck Scam. Last night Pam Oland got in front of the Council and clearly expressed that she was using the Blacksburg Fire Department in Virginia as an example as to why they are spending $1,200,000.00 PLUS on a new Ladder Truck for the City of Salisbury. The truck was supposed to only cost $950,000.00, (if you can believe that's an only) but since the Volunteers are putting up $89,118.00 and SU is putting up $200,000.00 towards the Ladder Truck, they went and ordered OPTIONS up the Ying Yang for their newest TOY. I've been told they ordered a leather interior, power windows, you name it, they're getting it. Perhaps it's a simulated leather interior, I'm not sure?
Nevertheless, Blacksburg, VA. ordered theirs and guess what Pam, it's only $575,969.00, NOT $1,200,000.00! Perhaps the next time you should do more homework or MAKE See & Gordy give you the REAL details. You see, since NO ONE challenges them on stuff like this, it goes unnoticed, like a $10,000,000.00 Fire Station and they get whatever they want.
To the Volunteers, a hat tip to ALL of you for funding and raising the $89,118.00, you should be VERY proud. How's that ACCOUNTABILITY working for you Louise? The Taxpayers are getting screwed once again by this notorious group of Bandits, (See & Gordy) and it's not going to stop until it's too late. I should add, the Ladder Truck mentioned is a 75 ft. Ladder Truck and I'm sure Salisbury's will be longer, I don't recall? Nevertheless, they're not getting $600,000.00 worth of Ladder, what do you think?
The information below comes directly from the Blacksbury Website, link included. Further information shows a 100 ft. long Ladder Truck would cost $850,000.00.
"TO: Town Council
VIA: Marc A. Verniel, Town Manager
FROM: Susan H. Kaiser, Financial Services Director
SUBJECT: Ordinance to Transfer Funds from State Fire Funds Fund Balance to the State Fire Funds Fund
DATE: November 9, 2007
Ordinance 1466 will appropriate funds from the State Fire Funds Fund
Balance. These funds are previously received but unappropriated State Fire Funds. State Fire Funds are to be used for the purchase of fire equipment or training facilities. The Town has purchased, during Fiscal Year 2007/2008, a 75 foot Aerial Ladder truck for the Fire Department for $575,969 and a Pumper Truck for $343,500.00 The purchases in accordance with a bid issued by the Town. The
volunteers of the Blacksburg Fire Department coordinated the vehicles with
the vendor. There were modifications to the vehicles that exceeded the purchase orders that are now due to the vendor. The State Fire Funds can be used to fund these modifications but must be appropriated before they can be expended.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. Thank you."
If you'd like to verify this Post, please GO HERE.
26 comments:
Joe, the unit being purchased has a 95’ aerial ladder with a bucket typically referred to as a tower ladder. A unit of this type has a very heavy duty ladder, more so than your typical straight ladder. In addition the bucket the ladder has a pre-piped waterway with two deck guns capable of flowing 2000gpm. This type of ladder is a valuable rescue tool when necessary to remove injured victims from the upper floors of buildings over a straight ladder as in the case again last week. The specifications I looked at did not have leather seats, only the standard cloth interior to match our current fleet. I was unaware leather seats were an option in fire equipment. As for the bells and whistles I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Salisbury’s current specifications call for stripped down work trucks, not parade pieces with aluminum wheels as in the past.
S.R.
A $1,200,000.00 Ladder Truck is NOT a BASIC truck.
Secondly, it was Pam Oland who compared Blacksburg and when checked out, it was found there was no comparison after all.
Keep top the facts here and for those of you who want to curse me out, do so in a e-mail and quit bombarding me with comments here. They won't get posted.
way to go joe!! i love how you WON'T post the factual comments.
I'm not sure what they got for 500K but it wasn't much. A quick browse on the net found a 100' Tower Ladder purchased in 2000 for Blacksburg VA. I can guarantee you that unit cost 800K or more just with the options listed and that was 8 years ago. I'm in the process of trying to find out more and I'll post later if you allow Joe.
Joe, before you chastise the fire department again, what facts do you have? Is this a rolling chassis or a fully equipped ladder truck to current NFPA/ISO standards? Based on what I know a truck of this type will require no less than two hundred thousand to outfit properly meeting such standards.
John W.
you are both idiots.
I assume there were "BIDS" on this purchase. What were the options? How many companies placed bids? What are the additional costs which took the price from its original price to $1.2 million? Who authorizes these expenditures? Joe, you are a very capable investigator. Please find these answers for your blog. All of us will appreciate the facts. Prove to us that this incident is an outrage. You are outraged. I would enjoy a good outrage - but I need to know more. Please help. I know you can do it. Maybe someone else out there can help. Why is this an outrageous expense? Was the truck a necessary addition to the Fire Department?
Isn't Salisbury at least 1 engine if not 2 short? Do they really need a ladder truck with Hebron, Sharptown and Delmar so close by? How often will it even get used?
For the gazillionth time, you show your ignorance of the fire service. $1.2 mil is not an outrageous price for a 100 foot "bucket" ladder truck. Why dont you ask what your Delmar buddies paid for their 75 foot "stick" years ago?
I don't know why (who know's it's Pam Oland!) but to compare what Salisbury is looking to buy and comparing it to what Blacksburg bought is apples to oranges. Blacksburg purchased a "QUINT". Here are the specs:
Blacksburg 75’ Heavy Duty Aluminum Ladder
Pierce 75’ Heavy Duty Aluminum Ladder on a Dash chassis with 10” raised roof
Detroit Diesel series 60 (515 hp) Engine
Allison EVS 4000 5-speed push button transmission
Pierce exclusive TAK-4 Independent Front Suspension for enhanced braking, maneuverability and ride quality
26” bumper extension with 2.5” discharge and hose tray
Pierce exclusive Side Roll Protection safety system
Command Zone advanced simplified electronics for real time apparatus information and diagnostics
Whelen LED warning light package
UPF Poly 500 gallon water tank
Waterous 1500 gpm CMU 2-stage pump
High flow 1500 gpm waterway
Control Zone pump panel
Booster Reel with 200’ of 1” hose
Honda EM6500 generator
Remote tip aerial controls
Akron 3578 Electric, 5178 with stow and deploy monitor
Pinless semi-retractable waterway
Pierce paint and graphics with Gold Star process
This type of truck is not intended to do anytype of heavy duty truck work and it has limitations with the ladder. Blacksburg already has a unit similiar to what Salisbury would like to purchase. They bought that in 1999. I would estimeate that in 1999, that unit cost in excess of 750,000.00. With the new emission standards in place, that truck would easily topple the million dollar mark today.
I should add that with the types of mid-rise construction in Salisbury, a basic ladder truck won't cut it. What they have now really puts the city at risk. Smaller towns such as Pocomoke and Princess Anne have heavy duty tower ladders. See for yourself.
Necessary, I can't say since I have no knowledge of the fire department and their needs. What I do know is I saw the fire department at those partially built condos on Fitzwater St last week pulling a man out on a stretcher from the 2 or 3rd floor. They had the ladder extended with 2 fire men and a man on a stretcher bringing him out of the building down that narrow ladder, there was no room for error. EMS was on the ground. It was an awesome sight to see. If a bucket would make a situation like this easier for all concerned and will get the person on the ground to medical personnel faster, then I would say it is necessary. I'm not one to deny Police, Fire or EMS anything they need to get the job done. That Taj Mahal on the bog that is not a necessity.
"They had the ladder extended with 2 fire men and a man on a stretcher bringing him out of the building down that narrow ladder, there was no room for error."
You should also check the weight limits and angle of the ladder and see just how close they were pushing the the envelope. I can assure you this was not a "grandstand" event, it was a necessaty and no room for error is an understatement.
It's not anyones business how much the fire department spends on capital equipment such as a ladder truck. You need to keep your nose in Delmar and we will run the fire department without your input. The volunteers had no choice but to turn the money over to us for the truck. Thanks to Chief Gordy and the vollies at 16 we will make that happen.
DepChief1 said...
It's not anyones business how much the fire department spends
THATS WAY BEYOND ARROGANT! Joe's the messanger exposing spending discrepencies within our corrupt local goverments. Your statement makes it quite clear how defensive you are being. Quite honestly when someone is that definsive they usually have something to hide. So you think you shouldnt have to give any details to the tax payers who foot most {with the exceptions of the generous donations by the volenteers}of the bills for your high level testoterone addiction? There will be an audit coming to Salis gov. real soon, you make sure your checks and expenditures balance out.
And don't be so quick to pat the vollies on the back for all their hard work raising what monies they have. The vollies in Salis. don't work fundraisers AT ALL! They get their money from the county and donations. They would never survive if they had to operate like the rest of the county departments and "work" for anything.
Years ago when the developer of Sea Colony in Bethany Beach built high rise style condos they were required to subsidize the purchase of fire equipment to service these buildings...why are buildings being constructed (for profit of the builders) and the people having to fund equipment necessary to service them? OR, have those developers been charged "impact fees" with these expenses factored in already? SBY needs to know.
Have you ever seen a fireman yet who is not arrogant? Goes with the territory I guess.
If there is anything the fire department needs, its a ladder truck. In August a firefighter was injured badly while operating the current truck. He is still out today and may not return. The current truck is a 1980 unit and has far outlasted its usefullness. When it was purchased in 1997 USED, it was a stop gap until a new unit could be purchased. Well, here we are in 2008 and its still here. Yeah, it goes down the road and the ladder goes up. But it's a ticking time bomb before the next firefighter gets injured or killed or fails to work.
The department runs over 12,000 calls a year and its equipment is a reflection on its City. The taxpayer expect to se well maintained and modern apparatus. A 1980 YELLOW worn out ladder is not the message you want to send. These trucks are not cheap and will probably cost about or just over a million. I served on the design committee and can assure you there is no fluff on this rig. No leather seats or fancy interiors with stereo. It was designed to be a work truck with the necessary tools to do the job.
The City will save thousands of dollars and at least two months of production time by "PIGGYBACKING" on the Blascksburg contract. Their specs are just like ours and manufacturers allow us to piggyback on their contract. Municipalities do this everyday across America. I look forward to our department receiving this unit. Its long overdue and needed.
Joe as to not piss off anymore fire departments, try to show a picture of Slawsbury's truck next time. I know for sure the 2 trucks you have pictured (Hebron & Sharptown) do not want anything to do with what is going wrong, I mean on, in the "Big City."
For curious minds...why did the city fire department turn down the lower bids for the computer technology work to be done in the new fire station? Most had the same or better equipment with a cheaper price tag. Wait a minute...say that louder...the company that got chosen to do the work has an association with the Mayor? Interesting. Hey, what is another couple of thousands of taxpayer's dollars going to matter as long as the Mayor is happy!
10:06 am Are you sure about the trucks, looks very close to Ocean City's old Tower 5 and Truck 11, on a detail off Route 50 about 15 years ago. (but you may be right) If it is, awe, they would not care :)
The post was correct it is Hebron's Tower 5 and Sharptown's Truck 14 on a funeral detail. I believe it may have been at Spring Hill Gardens..
Once again, I say Brian Records sounds authoritative on this matter. No emotion, just explanation. Thanks
I dont think this post ia about whether or not we need to update fire equipment. I feel because Salis's gov has repeatedly shown inconsistancies with ANYTHING to do with money or even the procedure with money dealings {you cant screw up that much by accident} There are laws,and charters in place to keep things in order, these laws and charters have been broken repeatdly for a long time now. If you dont take the time and do your part....their will never be monies to supply our city and co. with it's nessecities.
Thank you for contacting the Office of the Attorney General. Any information
that you have regarding the alleged misconduct by the Salisbury Council should
be forwarded to the Office of the State Prosecutor, 300 East Joppa Road, Suite
410 Hampton Plaza, Towson, MD 21286.
Did they just discuss it or is the purchase a DONE deal?
bet they went with the company that several work for, when Rick gets done with the auditor have him go down the hall to the City offices!!!
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