Cookeville City Council will consider the purchase of additional vehicles for the fire department in the current fiscal year’s budget.
Fire Chief Benton Young said he was able to find two Ford Explorer-type vehicles available within two weeks from a dealer in Georgia. Young said if the city does not purchase the vehicles now, the price is expected to increase by 15 percent by July 1st.
“They’re really hard to find and I’ve looked for probably a month or so trying to find one,” Young said. “Our normal places where we get them in Tennessee have no idea when they’ll be getting theirs in, so.”
City Manager James Mills said the vehicles will cost about $40,000 each. He said even if the city were to put it in the next fiscal year’s budget, they would not be able to guarantee finding them available.
Young said the vehicles will replace old vehicles, which will then be used for various errand uses. He said they will also use the vehicle to transport firefighters to the academy.
“Chief Young is in need of a vehicle and he’s found a vehicle in Georgia on state bid price, which is going to be much cheaper to get now than it would be if we wait and we budget for it next year,” Mills said. “We anticipate significant increases in that. I’ve talked to Dan (Rader) if we can do a budget amendment on our budget amendment (…) I think it’s something we ought to do.”
The city council will consider the amendment with the second and final reading of other departments’ budget amendments. The council will also consider purchasing the vehicles themselves in a separate amendment.
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