Parkersburg City Council is expected to consider a resolution Tuesday to donate the 32-year-old ladder truck to the Waverly Volunteer Fire Department.

"They have the need for it because they're building a hotel there and one's already built," Parkersburg Fire Chief Jason Matthews said, referring to the Holiday Inn Express under construction and the Sleep Inn and Suites that opened last year.

Last month, council's Finance Committee unanimously voted to donate the aging truck and an ambulance to a department that lost equipment in the June floods. Matthews reached out to the West Virginia State Fire Marshal, but could not find a department with the need for the vehicles.

A new ladder truck is being delivered to the department this week, allowing the current front-line truck to be shifted into a reserve role and making the older vehicle the odd truck out.

At its meeting Monday night, the Decorah City Council unanimously approved buying the 2011 Rosenbauer 115-foot, “articulating platform” ladder truck for $900,000.
The truck has 28,000 miles and 1,500 hours of use; a similar new truck would cost about $1.5 million, according to Decorah Fire Chief Mike Ashbacher.
Monday morning, the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors voted to provide $145,000 in funding over the next four fiscal years for the new truck, and during Monday’s Council meeting, Luther President Paula Carlson pledged $120,000 from the college.
Ashbacher said the Fire Department appreciated the support from the city, county and college.
“We look forward to that piece of equipment,” he said.
City Manager Chad Bird said the city would be bonding for its $635,000 portion of the truck price and repaying the loan over four years. With an interest rate of 2 percent, the debt levy would be between 51 and 54 cents per $1,000 of taxable value.
The Indianola truck will replace the department’s 1999 LTI ladder truck that has been malfunctioning since 2004. The department will be trying to sell its truck and the proceeds will go toward the Indianola truck. Ashbacher said based on the research he’s done, the truck could be worth between $40,000 and $150,000.

Later in the same meeting, councilors are scheduled to consider approving a total of $2 million in other capital improvement projects, $750,000 of which councilors can approve themselves, and the remaining $1.3 million of which also must go to residents for a referendum vote in November.

If councilors act on a recommendation from the city staff, a bond of about $6 million to pay for the renovation and expansion of Hartford Station, the city’s oldest fire station, also could go to voters in the Nov. 8 general election.

Councilors are scheduled to discuss but not vote on the proposal to seek voter approval to bond about $6 million to renovate and expand Hartford at a meeting that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday in the council chamber at Augusta City Center.

The major project would seek to address multiple problems with the current fire station, including garage bays so narrow newer firetrucks won’t fit into them; a structurally deficient floor that can’t support the weight of firetrucks; a lack of space for training, decontaminating equipment and clothing, and access to people with disabilities; and a need to update to current standards and meet the needs of firefighters whose role has changed dramatically since the station was built in 1920.