Jackson trustees approve union contracts
Patricia Faulhaber
Suburbanite correspondent
JACKSON TWP. During the regular meeting on Feb 9, The Jackson Township Board of Trustees approved a Negotiated Agreement with the Jackson Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 2280 (Captains and Firefighters), and Jackson Professional Firefighters, IAFF Local 2280 (Fire Inspectors), during its Feb. 9 regular meeting.
Both contracts include a 3 percent cost of living adjustment each year with employees paying 14 percent toward their healthcare. The captains and firefighters’ agreement is effective Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31 2023, and the fire inspectors’ agreement is effective Jan. 2, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2023.
Township administrator Randy Gonzalez said that the township’s safety forces are, “excellent and do a great job.”
Photo by Scott McCloskey
WHEELING After more than a year on the assembly line, the Wheeling Fire Department’s new, custom-built aerial truck rolled into town this week.
Firefighters took part in training sessions over several days this week to familiarize themselves with the newest addition to the fleet. The $1.2-million ladder truck, custom built by the Sutphen Corporation, is nearly 12 feet high and just shy of 47 feet long. It will be temporarily housed at the Wheeling Island Fire Station before moving permanently to WFD headquarters in Center Wheeling.
“We’re very pleased,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “I know there’s been a lot of work put into that by the staff at the fire department. It’s going to be an excellent addition to the department.”
Kennebunk Select Board OKs purchase of new fire engine
KENNEBUNK, Maine – You’re going to see a new fire engine around town sometime next year.
The select board last week unanimously approved $587,750 for the purchase of a new 2021 pumper engine for the Kennebunk Fire Rescue Department from the Ohio-based Sutphen Corporation.
At the annual town meeting in July, voters approved the purchase and issuance of bonds totaling $600,000 to replace Engine 2, a 1992 Kovatch Firefox that is currently kept at the West Kennebunk Fire Station, according to Fire Chief Jeffrey Rowe.
To approve the purchase, however, the select board first needed to waive its purchasing policy on sole-source buying in order to take advantage of the same program the town used when it acquired Engine 4 in 2018. In that instance, the town went with the Houston-Galveston Area Council Collaborative, or HGAC, a bid and purchasing program that “collects pricing every two to three years on commonly purchased equipm