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City of Hugo Fire Department 5323 140th Street North Hugo, Minnesota 55038 PH: (651) 762-6362 FAX: (651) 429-3212 To: Bryan Bear, City Administrator From: Jim Compton, Jr., Fire Chief Date: May 14, 2026, for the City Council Meeting on May 18, 2026 Subject: Fire Department Equipment Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) _______________________________________________________________________________ City Council Goals Update In the 2026 City of Hugo Focus Goals under Public Safety, it was approved to evaluate the equipment CIP to accommodate future Fire Department trucks. A truck committee was put together, consisting of Deputy Chief Dave Jensen, Chief Engineer Tom Kaspszak, Lieutenants Ryan Nadeau and Bob Bieniek, and Firefighter Tom Robinson. The committee was directed to evaluate the feasibility of consolidating trucks to minimize the City of Hugo's costs and streamline department operations. Direction to the committee was given to complete a full fleet evaluation which included maintenance costs, number of fire apparatus, and replacement options. The committee has met several times to discuss the future needs of apparatus within the Fire Department. They requested quotes from several fire truck manufacturers to gain a clear understanding of the potential cost to replace our apparatus. CIP Background The equipment CIP is scheduled for 5-year cycles and budgeted annually. Current CIP practices are to replace with new trucks on schedules of 30 years for the large apparatus, 20 years for small apparatus, and 10 years for chief squads. The large apparatus includes a ladder, a pumper/tanker, a tender (tanker), and a heavy rescue. Small apparatuses include two brush pick-up trucks and a utility pick-up truck. Chief squads include two pick-up trucks and one SUV. Assuming the 30-year replacement schedule, the equipment CIP would need to accommodate replacement of the tender in 2032 and the heavy rescue in 2034. The CIP includes the replacement of a brush truck this year. Analysis Incorporation of a re-chassis strategy into CIP: As part of this evaluation, the possibility of a re-chassis of our large apparatus was explored. What that means is we would take the stainless-steel truck box, fire pump, and tank off the back of the chassis and put it on a new chassis, saving approximately 30-40% of the total cost of buying new. Currently, manufacturers are telling us they would re-chassis one time in a truck’s life. This strategy would include a re-chassis every 25 years and a completely new built truck every 50 years. This changes the CIP from a completely newly built truck every 30 years. By doing this re-chassis model, the City of Hugo could consider lowering the expected replacement costs to large fire apparatus for years to come.