At this Tuesday’s Bethel City Council meeting, Vice Mayor Fred Watson will introduce a proposal for a fund that would set aside moneys to replace, update and maintain the city's ambulances and fire trucks. The newly appointed Vice Mayor hopes his plan will alleviate high capital requests.
Vice Mayor Fred Watson's proposal would amend the Bethel municipal code, to set aside 50 percent of the revenue generated by the Bethel Fire Department to put into a Fire Department Fleet Replacement Fund.
Other departments already have fleet replacement programs in place, said Watson.
“So, the fire department does not, so this would be dedicated for that and anything would have to be approved, before council, before they spend this money,” said Watson.
In the past, the fire department has requested capital funding per-item as needed. Vice Mayor Watson said that if this plan passes, eventually it will reduce the large capital requests.
“Everything that they’ve done so far is capital projects,” said Watson, “in other words ‘we need this,’ and it’s gonna be a amendment to the current budget. So, it’ll actually increase the budget. This way we actually know how much is going to be taken out every year, at the end of the year so we have an idea of what is not available.”
With the fiscal year beginning in July, even if Watson's proposal is approved, the Council won’t know how much that fifty percent set-aside will amount to until July of 2018.
Watson said his proposal is especially important because wear and tear on the department’s vehicles in Bethel tends to shorten the lifespan of ambulances and fire trucks.
“Right now they’ve got an ambulance that they’ve actually raised a lot of money for, you know on their own – the volunteers have stepped up as well as the paid staff, the city has contributed - this is going to help them maintain that equipment,” said Watson.
He said this amendment would also help keep the fleet from degenerating by making sure they are replaced and repaired before they break down during an emergency.
“You know, the citizens of Bethel can rely on their vehicles getting there rather than dying halfway through, which has actually happened,” said Watson. “Ambulances have died and they had to use the other ambulance.”
Watson said his proposal will help alleviate that problem, with newer equipment replacing the old every five to ten years.