Council approves contracts, looks at new pumper truck

by Maria Lokshin
For The Post

Four new ordinances were adopted at the Athens City Council meeting last night.

The ordinances authorized three-year contracts and a wage increase of 3.5 percent to Athens firefighters and police officers.

Council adopted each ordinance unanimously and with emergency provisions. This means Mayor Ric Abel will be able to enact the ordinances without waiting for a specified period of time to pass.

Council heard several first readings of ordinances, moving them through the process onto their second readings for the next meeting.

Councilwoman Kathy Hecht, D-1st Ward, introduced an ordinance that would authorize the city to purchase a new pumper truck for the Athens Fire Department. The new truck will be needed by 2003 because the current pumper truck is nearly 20 years old.

“We try to use our pumper trucks for 20 years,” Abel said.

The city will sell the old truck, and the money from that sale will be credited toward the purchase of the new pumper truck, Hecht said.

The truck might cost up to $360,000. Bids from trucking companies must be submitted by the end of February, she said.

“This is a budgeted item. This is something we’ve been saving for,” said Councilman Dale Tampke, D-At-Large.

The truck will take about a year to manufacture, Hecht said.

Councilman Ed Baum, R-At-Large, introduced an ordinance allowing the mayor to apply for a Community Development Block Grant this year.

Athens has received the Community Development Block Grant every year they have applied, Baum said. The grant is distributed on a formula basis, and the amount depends on population.

In the past, money from the grant has been used for projects such as sewer and street repairs. There are no definite plans for the grant money this year, Baum said.