Livingston Purchases New Fire Truck With Police Vehicle Sales Money

The Livingston Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to purchase a new first responder truck for the fire department.

The money to purchase the truck comes from the sale of police vehicles and some old equipment. Police Chief Ray Smith said the fire department has traditionally had a used truck.

“We’re appreciative of what we did have, but it’s a great opportunity to pass on the wealth to their fire department, which responds to a lot of calls with us,” Smith said. “They help us do a lot of things with this. And I thought that would be a good little reach out, if the board would say so.”

The four-door truck comes at a price of $35,000. Mayor Curtis Hayes said it makes sense for the town as a whole.

“It’s really a utility,” Hayes said. “The fire department will use it, but the police department use it. We all work together, and who knows, the Street Department may have to use it one day.”

Livingston received a grant in cooperation with UCDD to purchase ten new Dodge police vehicles at a cost of $210,000.

“I hope you’ve got to see them out,” Smith said. “And they’re new. They’re under warranty that it didn’t cost the city a dime to get. We just had to fall in place and file the right paperwork. And with the hard work of the grant folks, they did this and they brought it to our attention.”

Smith said three different auctions of vehicles and equipment netted some $210,500 for the city.

The board also approved moving forward with a grant proposal for School Resource Officers through Governor Lee’s new school security program. The grant will require some updates to the Memorandum Of Understanding between the city and the school system.

“Now there were some provisions as far as who had authority to control and make decisions in the schools that may be conflicted with our earlier interlocal agreement with the county,” City Attorney Andre Greppen said. “And what I told Chief Smith was if you want the grant, you have to comply with this. And the best thing to do is just do an amendment with the county to the interlocal agreement to make sure it complies with the grant requirements.”

Livingston provides SROs for Livingston Academy, Livingston Middle School and A.H. Roberts Elementary.