Jackson Co. Receives Four Bids For New Pumper Tanker

Jackson County the recipient of four bids for a 3,000-gallon Pumper Tanker firetruck.

Mayor Randy Heady said the tanker will be stationed just outside Gainesboro city limits towards the fifth district to provide better coverage to the Flynn’s Lick Creek and Granville areas, which are growing. He said they are purchasing the vehicle with the county’s 2022 CDBG grant funds.

“The only concern was that tone of them was within our budget, very doable,” Heady said. “And the others were probably outside what we had expected the budget to be. So right now we’re at the point of going through the spec sheets and making sure everyone met the specs.”

Heady said the budgeted tanker came in just under $419,000, the top end of the budget. He said the other trucks averaged around $450,000. Heady said the state will provide instruction on the best route for the city to take moving forward. He said hypothetically, that could mean needing more money than what was originally budgeted.

“And the goal is that I won’t have to go back before the county commissions to potentially ask for more money, but we’re still in that process,” Heady said. “Of course, it’s easy for me to say yeah we’ve got the money but you’ve got to get it from somewhere. And so that would end up having to go back to budget committee and coming up with the money and getting the budget committee to sign on to that amendment and bringing it back to the county commission. So it’s too early to tell, and hopefully, that won’t be the route we have to take.”

Heady said another concern with the budgeted tanker was its timeline for delivery, which is currently estimated at around two to three years. He said that is a long time to be on hold for a CDBG grant.

Heady said they hope to award the bid within the next few days.