Howland fire chief to bring truck battle to public

HOWLAND – Saying the voters had spoken, the Board of Selectmen opted Monday night not to immediately place buying a new firetruck on the ballot of the June town meeting referendum, so Fire Chief Phil Dawson will be starting a petition to force the issue.

The campaign, Dawson said, will include petitions left at prominent town locations, meetings with residents, articles in newspapers and fire station tours. The idea is to help acquaint residents with the 38-year-old firetruck he wants to replace. No meeting dates have been set.

“It isn’t like we’re running dilapidated vehicles, but it comes to a point where you have to worry about reliability,” Dawson said Tuesday. “There comes a time when you have to replace these vehicles.”

Selectmen told Dawson that he would need signatures representing about 10 percent of town voters to force the item on the ballot, he said. That probably wouldn’t require more than 100 signatures, he said.

But the fire chief might be jumping into the fray too quickly, Town Manager Glenna Armour said. Board members will discuss warrant articles for the vote at the selectmen’s May 4 meeting, she said.

The issue could still make the ballot. She would not say whether she favored buying a new firetruck this year.

“I haven’t thought long and hard enough on the need for it,” Armour said. “There’s no doubt that they have an old truck … It could quit at any moment on them, I am sure.”

Last month, town residents shot down spending $170,000 for a truck replacing a 38-year-old rebuilt model the town uses. The town’s 1967 Ford Thibeault was upgraded about 10 years ago with a new back chassis, tank and repainting, but it is still too old to be reliable, Dawson has said.

The town’s newest vehicle is a 1983 Ford FMC pumper. Judging either vehicle by its age and mileage would be misleading because the town handles about 80 calls a year, he said.

Residents may have voted against the truck purchase because they erroneously believed the purchase would affect tax rates this year or next, Dawson said. In fact, the money will come out of town accounts set aside for this purpose.

“The money is not coming from taxation,” he said.

The information campaign will stress that fact. Residents also will be invited to open houses at the fire station so they can see for themselves the state of things, Dawson said.

“We would not be coming for a new firetruck if it wasn’t needed,” Dawson said. “We can justify our needs and maybe it’s our fault, too, that people didn’t vote for it the first time. We’ll make sure we know about it this time.”

Dawson expressed disappointment that the selectmen didn’t immediately place the item on the agenda and faulted them for not coming to the fire station themselves more often. Newer trucks, he said, would help residents qualify for lower home insurance rates.

“We’re living on borrowed time with these trucks,” he said.