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Atchison Fire Dept. To Purchase New Ladder Truck

By Joel Hardy

03/05/2014

(KAIR)--The Atchison Fire Department will soon be getting a much needed upgrade in the form of a new aerial ladder truck.

Fire Chief Mike McDermed came before the City Commission Monday afternoon to request funding for the new truck. He says the truck the department has now is over thirty years old and needs replaced since parts needed to repair it are getting harder and harder to obtain.

McDermed adds the new truck has state of the art upgrades that will make operations a lot safer. It will have several technological advances, including a proximity sensor that will alert personnel to when they are too close to an object.

Atchison City Finance Director Becky Anderson says they are working on a plan to finance the new truck, which is estimated to cost just under $850,000. She says a statute exists that allows cities like Atchison to bond up to $100,000 for large equipment purchases.

However, that statute was adopted in 1955 when $100,000 was a lot of money. Anderson says the city chartered out of that statute and increased the annual bond issue authority to $750,000, but with time, another increase is needed. She says $750,000 today is not what it was in 2004

Anderson came before the City Commission Monday evening to request the increase. They voted 4-1 to authorize the increase in annual bond authority, with Commissioner Jack Bower casting the lone no vote.

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