Yesterday's newsletter reported that the city was delaying purchase of firetrucks. That was incorrect.
This is the source material that I misinterpreted:
The October 8th meeting packet said: "The Fire Fund has evaluated its career staffing model, updated its vehicle replacement plan and will bring two additional Firefighter’s on staff in 2025." (p. 3 of the memo)
During the October 8th meeting, at 2 hrs 26 minutes, the City Manager stated:
"Our Fire Chief has made some decisions around equipment, vehicles, and personnel and trying after we've changed structurally how we're going to respond to fires, how we're going to staff the organization after the ballot question passed has made some decisions to modify their fleet program, which has saved a significant amount of money over a long period of time by right-sizing the fleet, so taking advantage of fire apparatus that will be more flexible and more appropriate for our community and the type of response we're doing versus what may have been in a long range capital plan or a fleet lease plan for a number of years and so he's basically taken one vehicle out that he doesn't feel is necessary and then sort of down-sized a second one and he's very comfortable that those are the right vehicles for the Golden Fire Department, saved a significant amount of money that helps to also then fund these changes from an operational personnel perspective.
There was more information on page 5:
The Fleet Fund
To accelerate the replacement of heavy apparatus in the Fire Department the Fleet lease in the Fire Fund was increased in 2024. The Fire Department lease and the vehicle replacement program has been evaluated and restructured for 2025 allowing for a return to the 2023 funding level. With one year of accelerated funding and right sizing the type and number of apparatus, the Fire Department is in an excellent position to replace vehicles on an appropriate schedule.
The Fleet Fund experienced significant delays in equipment and vehicle deliveries in 2024 due to supply chain issues, pushing many purchases that were budgeted for 2024 into 2025 and 2026. The capital outlay projected in 2025 includes delayed 2024 purchases, a Fire Department Mini-Pumper, and an electric street sweeper.
I apologize for the misinterpretation.
