Redkey needs firetruck (10/18/05)

REDKEY — The need for major repairs or replacement of the town’s backup fire truck was voiced at Monday night’s town council meeting here. But the major question was: Where will the money come from?

Redkey Fire Chief Randy Young said Insurance Services Office, Inc., Chicago, is beginning the process making its once every five years report of the Redkey firefighting capabilities for insurance policy premium purposes. Currently Redkey has a ranking of Class 7 on a scale of one to 10, with one being the best. Young said he would like the town to be able to keep that rating or move up the scale to help control insurance premiums for Redkey property owners.

However, Young said Monday night that without some repair work, the town’s backup fire pumper truck will not meet certification requirements. The department needs to have two pumper trucks meet the minimum certification requirements, he said. The department’s newer truck, purchased a few years ago with Build Indiana funds, “passed with flying colors,” the chief said, but the 40-year-old backup truck “failed with flying colors,” the fire chief said.

Young said he is in the process of getting estimates for repair work needed to bring the backup truck in shape. But he didn’t want to pour thousands of dollars into a 40-year-old truck.

Council member Dottie Quakenbush asked about the possibility of purchasing a used fire truck from some other department. Young said this could be considered, noting that the price of a new truck was beyond the reach of the town in light of its current financial difficulties. Also Young pointed out that Build Indiana funds are no longer available to help with such a purchase.

The fire chief said he was providing this information to the council basically as a warning. “Right now we have a Class 7 rating, and we don’t want to lose that,” the chief said.

Also in connection with the ISO testing procedures, Young said that Redkey’s fire hydrants will be flow-tested next week, probably on Monday and Tuesday. This could create rusty water problems for persons doing laundry on those days.

Town council president and water department supervisor Violet Erlenbush said that a recent study of the fire hydrants on the east side of town has revealed that five are not functioning properly. Three of those can be repaired, but the other two will have to be replaced, she said. It will cost between $3,000 and $4,000 to replace those two hydrants, she added, noting that the town does have some repair parts for the others.

Erlenbush said that this work can be done one hydrant at a time, hopefully by the end of the year. She added that plans call for repairing the hydrants on the west side of town next year.

Council members unanimously approved a motion to begin the fire hydrant repairs.

Also the town council has set a special meeting for 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, “to discuss and consider issues involving the town police department” and any other business that may come up.

Last Friday morning council members held a brief special meeting to pay the remaining outstanding bills relating to last January’s ice storm. Clerk-treasurer Brenda Adkins said that approximately $12,000 in bills were paid for work done last winter. This represented the part of the town’s 25-percent share of the project. The other 75 percent came from Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. The overall total was $78,000 with FEMA contributing about $61,000 and Redkey supplying the extra $17,000, Adkins said.

At Friday’s meeting council members voted to take the town’s payment from funds which Redkey received as a result of granting railroad right-of-way requests to Norfolk Southern Railway.

In other action at Monday night’s meeting council members:

•Noted that Halloween trick-or-treat hours will be 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 31. Also the annual costume parade and contest for children will start at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Redkey Fire Station.

•Approved amendments to the animal control ordinance, expanding provisions requiring pet owners to provide proper shelter and care for their animals. Town officials said there have been incidents in the past where persons have taken long trips or even moved from town, without making any provisions for the shelter and care of their pets. Basically, the animals were just abandoned, town officials said.[[In-content Ad]]