Increased Price of New Trucks Fires Up Norfolk Councillor

Norfolk County’s Legal Team Will Be Busy Reviewing Purchasing Contracts from 2024 that Have Left Taxpayers Needing to Cover Over 5 million More Than Expect.

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Several Purchases and Projects Came in Over Budget, Most Notely Six Fire Trucks Ranging in Increases from $ 470,000 to $ 857,000, According to a capital status report presented to cover on you.

The Purchase of One Aerial Truck, Three Pumpers and Two Tankers from Fort Gerry Fire Trucks in Alberta was expected to cost norfolk $ 5.8 million, But Instead Will Run Just Shy of $ 9.5 million.

The Escalations Perain to Increased Costs of Chassis for the Units, to Which Coun. Chris Van Paassen Took Issue.

“What Kind of Contract Language Do We Have Where We Accept and Enter Into An Agreement to Build A Fire Truck For $ 825,000 and Later on, they can add on that much more?” Van Paassen Asked. “That’s Got to Be More Than The Entire Price of the Chassis to Start With… There’s no way there should be that much leeway in a contract that you’ve alredy Entered Into.”

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Van Paassen Wondered If the same Price Hike Can Happen With Dump Trucks and Other Large Purchases Norfolk is required to make.

“Do these companies just have the right to double the price later on after the contract has been accepted?” He asked.

“We look look at three million (dollars) or more per year to replace our current fleet of trucks and that’s not sustainable to the taxpayer.

Heidy Vandyk, Norfolk County General Manager of Corporate Services, Said Each Contact Contains An Irrevocability Period that Require Vendors to Hold Their Princes While The Municipality Gets Final Approlas and Executes Its Required Steps, but Market Conditions Can Often Dictate The Price of Specific Items.

“Sometimes the irrevocability period is shorter for some items Than Others,” Vandyk Added. “That is the situation we encourage with the fire trucks.”

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Van Paassen Countered by Saying Contracts COULD BE APPROVED AND CONFIMED AT COUNCIL’S REGULAR MONTHLY Meeting.

“Don’t Tell Me in Less Than a Month’s Time the Price of A Truck Went from $ 825,000 to $ 1.353,000,” He Said.

“If our contracts are so loose that they can add that much more after the fact, there’s something with the contract. The Taxpayer can’t from this kind of Increase after the fact.”

In the Hopes of Lobbying Provincial and National Officials to Lengthen a Truck’s Life Cycle of 20 Years, Council Direct Fire Chief Gord Stilwell to Pen A Report Detailing Norfolk County’s Fleet Statistics, Hours of Use, Best Practices, Municipal Comparators and Life Cycle Expectancy.

“I think (A 20-Year Life Cycle) is ridiculous when you look at the length of service, they want to terminate Those Trucks after,” Said Coun. Doug Brunton. “I want hope somebody bungs that Issue to the Floor because these trucks sit in buildings a large percentage of the time and when you look at the cost of them, it’s ridiculous.

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Coun. Kim Huffman Said That During Her First Term on Council Shen Heard from Fire Department Staff regarding the Replacement of Trucks.

“I HAD-Off-the-Record-Staff in the Fire Department Reach Out to Me in Terms of this specific Issue and Replacing Trucks when they didn’t Need to be replacement,” She Said. “AS Norfolk County Taxpayers and Employees, They Were Quite concerned we we were athorizing New Trucks when they felt that the Equipment was Absolutely Fine.”

While Several 2024 Projects and Equipment cam in with a surplus, Projects Needing Budget Adjustments Included the Port Rowan Wastewater Treatment Plant and Intake Upgrades To The Tune Of $ 7.174,000 and the Port Dover Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase 1 Upgrades with an Increase of $ 3.318,000.

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