West Hartford Council Approves WHFD Vehicle Purchases

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford officials Tuesday easily approved purchasing four light service vehicles for the West Hartford Fire Department, vehicles officials said are badly needed to replace the current aging fleet.

The unanimous, bipartisan vote is actually a resolution to reshuffle funding within the 2022-23 capital fund budget, allowing for the vehicle purchases.

According to the resolution, the WHFD will get a $65,000 paramedic unit vehicle; a fire marshal sport utility vehicle for $60,000; an administrative SUV for $60,000; and an emergency management SUV for $40,000.

In addition, the fire department will have $25,000 in contingency cash for any possible cost overruns, outfitting necessities or other unexpected costs.

If any savings are realized from the budgeted amounts, the contingency money would be put back into the capital budget, West Hartford Town Manager Rick Ledwith said Tuesday.

The paramedic vehicle would allow the department to quickly address smaller-scale emergencies where a smaller, paramedic vehicle is required.

As for the fire marshal's office vehicle, both the fire marshal and the deputy fire marshal are regularly about town and need a new, reliable vehicle opposed to an older model.

The remaining vehicles will replace aging models within the WHFD fleet, as they are currently prone to breakdowns and maintenance costs.

One of the service vehicles, according to Republican Councilman Alberto Cortes, was a Chevrolet Astro, a van model that last was built in 2005.

"That needs to be retired. It should have been retired years ago. I'm glad to see it is being replaced," said Cortes, a member of the council's public safety committee.

West Hartford Town Manager Rick Ledwith, responding to questions from Democratic Councilperson Debra Polun, said the four new purchases would replace aging vehicles, which would be auctioned off, resulting in some revenue gain, but not much given the age of the vehicles.

"Excellent," Polun said. "So we would see some of this revenue come right back into the town."

Councilperson Carol Blanks, a Democrat, is also chair of the council's public safety committee.

She reiterated the need for the vehicles and said reliable service vehicles for WHFD staff has been a common refrain among committee members.

"I know that they have an aging fleet and its been aging for quite some time and they, often, have to have repairs," Blanks said.

"I think this is something that is highly needed and something that we need to do, because its better to be prepared than to be unprepared."

From Feb. 13: 'West Hartford FD Seeks Four New Vehicles'

For the full details of the resolution to purchase the WHFD vehicles, click on this link and scroll to Page 51.