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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes • March 10, 1998 Page 12 1 League of Minnesota Cities that was able to act as a consultant. Faust stated he did not want 2 Staff to get the impression that the Council was not supportive but he would like to do this once 3 and do it the right way. 4 There was Council consensus to direct Staff to try to retain an independent to help the City 5 determine their needs and wants for the computer upgrade. 6 E. Consider Approval of the Fire Truck. 7 Fire Chief Johnson reported he had received three bids on a fire truck. The low bid of$207,272 8 from Central States does not meet the City's specifications. The compartments are too small._ 9 He recommended the City purchase the fire truck from Toyne in the amount of$226,190. The 10 proposed fire truck will be the first yellow pumper in the City of St. Anthony that the capacity 11 exceeds the load that it carries. All the other trucks are over capacitated. The cab/chassis was 12 purchased by State bid and resulted in a savings of$10,000.00 which was spent to improve the 13 suspension. Many of the key components of the truck are made of polyurethane, fiberglass or 14 aluminum. 15 Morrison reported he had consulted with the City Attorney and as the low bid did not meet the 16 specifications of the RFP, there would need to be a motion to deny that bid. q7 Motion by Faust, second by Ranallo to accept the bid from Toyne in the amount of$226,190 and 18 disqualify the bid from Central States as it does not meet the specifications as provided by the 19 Fire Department. 20 Cavanaugh stated he would like to speak in opposition to the purchase of the fire truck. He noted 21 that the Fire Chief has stated that engines 11 and 12 have at least five more years of life so this is 22 not an eminent decision. Cavanaugh stated there was no productivity gain in this purchase and 23 no reduction in cost. He noted the Council has on their 1998 agenda the consideration of 24 building a new fire station. The fire truck purchase would expend a significant amount of 25 capital. He stated the City of St. Anthony provides emergency services quite well but the 26 amount of calls for fire are only 6% and 94%of all calls deal with issues other than fire. He 27 stated that the real need for the fire truck comes from the insurance industry which requires a 28 pumping capacity rate. St. Anthony has an insurance rate of 5. He stated he had contacted his 29 insurance company and they had informed him that a 6 or 7 would not increase his insurance 30 premium. Cavanaugh stated that the cost per call in the City of St. Anthony is high. This is 31 because the Fire Department performs other services than fire with the fire truck. He suggested 32 there are other vehicles available to provide those services. He noted there is no other City in the 33 area that has as high of a cost per capita. The cost per capita in St. Anthony is $52 and the cost 34 per capita in Roseville is only $25. 35 Cavanaugh noted there are other capital expenditures necessary in the City such as the parks, flood mitigation, renovation of the Stonehouse and SAV 1, expansion of the community center, 38 and street renovation. This is a tremendous capital expenditure and he did not see where this