Wiscasset held off July 19 on a purchase and sale deal for the tanker truck voters approved for the fire department. Officials said the latest cost from vendor Allegiance Fire & Rescue of Walpole, Massachusetts is $392,592, with no guarantee on the cost of the chassis on order, and with the town, depending on when and if it backs out, having to pay 10% or more of the Pierce Manufacturing truck’s cost without getting the truck. 

“Trust me, I understand the apprehension and the nervousness ... ,” Allegiance’s Ray Smith said via Zoom. “Unfortunately, this is the way many things are right now.” Selectman Dusty Jones wondered why the town should have to pay part of the cost, when someone else will buy the truck if the town does not. Smith said it was the firm’s standard contract but these are “kind of uncharted waters” and he would try to get Town Manager Dennis Simmons a better answer.

Simmons said, though the board recently gave him more discretion to make deals amid the supply crisis, he was “very reluctant” to agree to this one without the board’s direction, since the final price is not yet known.

The truck committee has checked and found that other vendors are running into the same issues, Fire Chief Rob Bickford said. The department could receive the Pierce Manufacturing truck next June, so in 11 months as opposed to the two years it can take for emergency vehicles these days, he said.

Selectman William “Bill” Maloney asked about the chassis on a tanker the department now has. Bickford said it is 28 years old and “not in terrible condition” but parts for it would be hard to find, “so if anything major goes on it, it could be the end of the vehicle.”

According to officials and Wiscasset Newspaper files, voters in June approved getting the truck for up to $400,000; if selectmen carry over about $18,000 unspent in the fire department’s 2021-22 budget, that, too, could be tapped, Simmons said. So could contingency funds, he said.

Simmons told selectmen their planned 6 p.m. July 26 workshop could be a business meeting instead so they could decide something on the truck issue. Responding to a question from Simmons, Smith said if the town put off getting the truck for a year, the price will rise and the wait for a chassis will likely be longer.

Also July 19, the board nodded a business license for Daniel and Jamie Lackie, owners of D&D Classic and Custom Rides, 111 West Alna Road; deemed a public works 2004 GMC pickup truck to be surplus and said Simmons can take bids on it; and agreed to have Simmons award the winter sand contract to the lowest qualified bidder. He said the lone bid was from Nathan Northrop for $10 per cubic yard if the town picks up the sand, or $19.50 if delivered.

Superintendent of Schools Robert “Bob” England Jr. introduced himself to selectmen, and they welcomed him. England mentioned he has asked Simmons about the school department possibly getting to take part in net energy billing like the town is. “Why not have the schools reap the benefits of that same thing,” England said about savings on electric costs.