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Manawa approves new fire truck

Manawa’s new fire truck will be manufactured in Marion.

The bid from Marion Body Works was approved by the Manawa Fire Board at its April 22 meeting.

According to the contract, the new truck will be delivered to the Manawa Rural Fire Department by May 2015.

The new rescue/pumper truck will cost about $577,999, which includes a $25,000 contingency fund and allows the vehicle to be used first as a demonstrator by the manufacturer.

The contingency fund allows the MRFD to make decisions on changes without asking the fire board.

“If we don’t need (the contingency fund), it doesn’t get put on the loan,” Fire Chief Rob Rosenau said.

Funding for the new vehicle will be discussed at the board’s May meeting.

The fire board received two bids from the three local companies they had contacted. The Truck Replacement Committee strongly suggested that the board approve the Marion bid, even before the sealed amount was revealed.

“There are no frills on this (truck),” said Mark Craig, chair of the Truck Replacement Committee. “We did everything possible to make this truck more cost effective.”

During a presentation to the board, Craig noted it was a 90 to 10 comparison between the two fire truck proposals.

“I know how they are built and I have seen how they are built,” he said. “Marion exceeded our expectations.”

Both companies received the same proposal and there was no back-and-forth, Craig said.

He described the other proposal as “minimum” and that it would work, but it wasn’t everything like they had requested.
“We were looking for something that will serve our needs into the future,” Craig said.

The new truck will be the main vehicle for the MRFD. It will replace a pumper and the rescue truck, which will both be sold.
Ambulance director

The Manawa Ambulance Board announced that Andrew Werth is acting director of the Manawa Ambulance Service.

Werth is also operations manager for the Clintonville Ambulance. He will not officially be named director for Manawa until the job-share position is approved by the Clintonville ambulance board.

The Manawa board had hoped to approve the appointment at a special meeting on Tuesday, April 29.

“We as a board want to have this service in Manawa even if we need to get outside help from Clintonville,” said board president Mary Eck. “It is very important to us that we maintain this service in any way (possible).”

The board members agreed that, at this point, help is needed from an outside source.

Werth suggested that the other leadership positions – such as supply officer and training officer – be filled by local people.

“We need to build leadership in our local EMS services,” he said.

Werth also supported the board’s idea to have First Responders.

“It would be a benefit to the community,” he said.

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