By Jane Willey
Parsons Sun – November 15, 2013
Submitted by Newz Group Clipping Service – November 18, 2013
Parsons city commissioners may decide between buying demonstrator fire trucks or buying new trucks through a website.
Parsons Fire Chief Larry Steeby told the commissioners during a Thursday afternoon work session that he has been looking into buying trucks through www.HGACbuy.com a website that offers competitive bids on many different types of equipment.
Steeby said the company requires a fee for buying trucks through the website. For example, he said the city would have to pay about $2,000 to buy an aerial fire truck, but the site supposedly offers the lowest possible prices from companies.
Buying vehicles from the website would be a departure of the city’s normal buying practice of seeking bids from companies on its own, but HGACbuy.com takes bids on all of the products offered on the site from many different companies. The website has vehicles ranging from trash trucks to police cars to fire trucks.
The fire department will buy an aerial platform or ladder truck as well as a regular pumper truck using money from a new half-cent sales tax that goes into effect in January.
Steeby said he would like to buy trucks either from E-One or Pierce because those companies build their trucks from the ground up. If something goes wrong with a part on the trucks, there is only one person to answer to the problem instead of multiple companies passing the buck on a warranty item. Also, he said, those companies build higher quality trucks than their competitors, and the city expects the trucks to last 15 to 20 years.
Steeby said he would make a recommendation on what trucks to buy in January if the commission decides to buy through HGACbuy.com. The trucks then would be ready in seven to 10 months after ordering. Equipping and training would take another few months, and the trucks would go into service about a year after the order.
Steeby also talked about a cheaper option. He said the city could buy a demonstration unit from E-One or Pierce that comes within 90 to 95 percent of meeting the specifications he prefers. The demonstrator would have up to 10,000 miles on it, but the warranty would begin at that mileage point.
If the commission decides to go that route, Steeby said, he may have to order the truck before the end of this year. Steeby said he would favor buying a demonstrator only if it saved a significant amount of money. If such a unit were only $30,000 to $50,000 cheaper, he probably would prefer buying a truck from the website.
“I think we ought to pursue that and see what comes out of it,” Commissioner Dan Goddard said.
The other commissioners agreed.
Commissioner Tom Shaw said he appreciates that Steeby is looking at options that could save the city money.
City Manager Fred Gress said the website is a great advantage for municipalities and is an approved approach by government entities throughout the U.S.
Steeby said USD 503 buys equipment from HGACbuy.com.
Steeby told the commissioners they could go to HGACbuy.com and click on emergency equipment and then go to guest access to view the many fire trucks available. The site lists the base price of every unit, but Steeby said the fire department would have to buy options separately, also through the site and also at competitive bid prices.
Steeby said HGACbuy.com seeks bids from the companies every two years.
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