Vice Mayor Fred Watson’s proposal to create a fund for new fire emergency vehicles was introduced Tuesday at the Bethel City Council Meeting. There was some initial debate, but the proposal was accepted unanimously and will likely be worked on at the next meeting.
Fire Chief Bill Howell made his case for the Bethel Fire Department during "People to be Heard", the meeting's opening public comment period, saying that the city’s emergency vehicles have a reliability problem.
“There’s been no plan or vision in the past at the fire department for vehicle replacement, and this has kind of led us into the position we are now where we have thirty- and forty-year-old vehicles that are in various states of disrepair and having trouble with responding,” said Howell.
Howell said he supports and looks forward to anything that plans for the future of Bethel’s emergency vehicles.
Bethel Vice Mayor Fred Watson proposed to amend the city code to place a percentage of ambulance fees into a vehicle replacement fund. The proposal mentions fifty percent, but that could change.
Watson has had his eye on this issue for some time. He started volunteering with the Bethel Fire Department back in 1989. In total, Watson says that he’s worked on staff or as a volunteer for eighteen years. In all that time, he says, the same old equipment has been used.
“As the fleet ages, you know, some of their equipment is thirty years old. There’s really nothing more you can do, you know, to make a working piece of equipment that’s safe,” said Watson.
There will be more discussion of the vehicle replacement fund. While she joined the other Council members in unanimously accepting the proposal, Alisha Welch had concerns about committing future city councils to a set percentage for the fund.
“I think it is a good idea, but I think it could be done a little bit better and I’d like to hear from our attorney,” said Welch. “And again, this is just an introduction and so we can hash it out next meeting.”
Mayor Rick Robb said that the council would have the authority, as with any other fund, to pull the money out of the fund if there were any other needs.
“As far as binding future councils, it puts the money in there, but it could still be moved out. The fund isn’t protected by make-up, or statute or anything,” said Mayor Robb.
But, he said, paying into the fund would initially reduce the amount of money going to the city’s general operations.