The 2001 Emergency One Ladder Truck that the city of Piqua is adding to the Piqua Fire Department, which is being purchased from Clearcreek Township. Piqua City Commissioners OK’d the purchase at their Tuesday, May 21, meeting.
Courtesy photo
By Eamon Baird
PIQUA — The city of Piqua is purchasing a ladder fire truck for The Piqua Fire Department.
On Tuesday, May 21, Piqua City Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of a 2001 Emergency One Ladder Truck for the Piqua Fire Department during their meeting. The commissioners opted to waive the three-reading rule and authorized the purchase of the ladder truck from Clearcreek Township. The cost of the truck is $250,000 with an additional $70,000 estimate for repairs and up-fitting.
Piqua Fire Chief Lee Adams said the Piqua Fire Department hasn’t had an operational ladder truck since 2019. Piqua has already had to use ladder trucks from other cities four or five times this year, he said.
“This is supposed to be a stopgap measure. This gets us to a minimum level of protection, where we actually have a ladder truck ready to respond to the city. We don’t have to rely on Sidney or Troy to provide that for us like we have since 2019,” Adams said.
Adams added after the approval of the purchase the truck should be operational for Piqua in six to eight weeks, but that Piqua firefighters will need to be trained on how to operate the truck.
“If our repairs come in under budget, we will have some additional funds to pay for that, if our repairs come in over budget we may be waiting until calendar year 2025 to be able to have the money for training,” Adams said.
During the commissioners’ comments section Mayor Kris Lee thanked City Manager Paul Oberdorfer, Police Chief Rick Byron, and Adams for their work on acquiring the new truck.
“I am so happy that we got a ladder truck,” Lee said. “With four to five ladder truck calls within the first part of this year we definitely had a need for it.”
In the consent agenda the commission recognized retiring city employees Jason Preston, Larry Wiles and Tammy Wright for their public service contributions to the city of Piqua.
In other business, the commission proposed an amendment to the ordinance regulating burning activities, which would include all violators responsible for the cost of all contamination testing and the cost of all remediation of any environmental injury or damage because of the violation.
Commissioner Frank DeBrosse made a motion to waive the three-reading rule for the ordinance which the commissioners unanimously voted “yes” on.
The commission heard a second reading an ordinance the for the city manager to approve claims against the city up to the legal amount prior to commissioner approval. Currently the limit is $2,500, this ordinance proposes increasing the limit authorized by the Ohio Revised Code for competitive bidding to $75,000.
In new business, the commission heard a first reading to amend an ordinance to make appropriations for the city of Piqua for 2024.
The commission approved the following ordinances:
• To protect and preserve the Piqua Historical District by adopting chapter 99 to the Piqua municipal code.
• To amend chapter 32 of the Piqua municipal code to include the Board of Zoning Appeals and the City Historic Review Commission.
• To amend title XV pertaining to land usage of the Piqua Development Code in multiple sections.
Additionally, the commission approved the following resolutions:
• To award a contract to Walls Bros. Asphalt Co. for the pavement preservation program. The project will consist of necessary roadway base repairs and the overlaying of the roadway and new asphalt surface, with an expenditure of $783,000 which includes a 10% contingency.
• To award a contract to Grissom Construction LLC, for the 2024 ADA Curb Ramp program. The terms include a $189,000 expenditure with a 10% contingency plan.
• To award a contract to Performance Site Development for the Robinson to Maple Alley Sanitary Sewer Replacement Project. The project consists of replacing failing sanitary sewer main and laterals at an estimated expenditure of $422,000, which includes a 10% contingency.
• To request authorization of an agreement with Stantec Consulting Services Inc. for continued engineering support regarding Piqua’s Hyrdraulic Canal and dam system.
The commission added a resolution amending the city manager’s contract. This amendment would add a term from May 2024 to May 2026, and a payout to the city manager if let go before the term expires.
Piqua City Manager Paul Oberdorfer was hired without the term contract. The commissioners voted 3-2 on the resolution, with Commissioners Paul Simmons and JimVetter voting against the resolution.
