The Fire Department is requesting to replace two apparatus, due to age, high miles, and repair costs. The replacement of fire apparatus and vehicles is determined by age of the vehicle, current mileage, lifetime maintenance costs, out-of-service time, availability/cost of repair parts, and the allocation of funds in the annual budget.  Specifically, the replacement of pumpers is projected to be every 10-years and/or 75,000 miles. With this apparatus exceeding the mileage limit (currently over 100k) and/or with the existing maintenance issues it is recommended that it be removed from front-line service and be reassigned to the reserve fleet. It is pertinent that the department not only maintain reserve apparatus for use while preforming maintenance on other front-line apparatus, but also for emergencies situations in which additional apparatus might be needed in the city.  In addition, due to the supply chain issues, ordering a new apparatus now takes a minimum of 24 months for production, so it is imperative to stay ahead of the process.

The purchase order, if approved, will be issued against the Houston-Galveston Area Council contact # FS12-19 and F19-WC04, which is a cooperative bid agreement available for use by all municipalities in the United States. The cooperative purchasing provisions of paragraph 5 of the Independence City Code allows for the purchase of items competitively bid by other governmental entities. 

Approval of this item authorizes the Finance Director to issue change order up to a total of ten (10) percent of the original authorized amount, so long as appropriations are available.