New equipment for Clintonville Fire Department
By Bert Lehman
The Clintonville City Council has awarded the contract for a new tender body for the fire department to Marion Body Works.
The council approved the $326,293 bid at its Sept. 10 council meeting.
Alderman Chuck Manske was excused from the meeting.
The new tender body will be paid for with capital funds when the body is completed in 2020.
A seven-member committee comprised of volunteers of officers and engineers from the Clintonville Fire Department originally drafted specifications that would be best suited to replace the department’s current 1996 GMC.
A report from a Sept. 9 Clintonville Fire Department Apparatus Committee meeting stated, “The committee prepared specifications based off the current Seagrave model with alterations due to new options and available features and integrated additional safety features to answer challenges in the current apparatus. An International Chassis was selected to keep common with both the FD’s current fleet and the city street fleet, which is largely International Chassis in an effort to improve fleet maintenance/service.”
Three bids
The report also stated the fire department received three quotes in August. Analysis of the bid proposals was based on “meeting the specification and needs of the fire department.”
The following bids were received: Custom Fab and Body – $292,535, Marion Body Works – $326,293, and Seagrave – $394,885.
According to the committee report, the committee concluded that the bid provided by Custom Fab and Body (CFB) was the least compliant to the specifications.
“A major concern in the proposal is that CFB stated the overall length requirement couldn’t be safely met, therefore the proposal length exceeds committee’s maximum length restriction, which is due to the fire department facility. The vehicle length request near duplicates the current Seagrave where as the CFB proposal doesn’t provide a vehicle that will fit in the current fire station.”
According to the report, both the Marion Body Works and Seagrave bid proposals were acceptable. It was later stated in the report, “the Marion (Body Works) proposal reflected a closer match to the committee specification request.”