County continuing fire truck purchase process

Published 12:10 am Tuesday, January 6, 2015

NATCHEZ — Whatever model fire officials finally decide on, the fire truck Adams County plans to purchase for the City of Natchez will cost approximately $300,000.

The fire truck purchase was one of the provisions the county and city agreed to as part of their 10-year fire protection agreement through which the city will provide fire coverage outside the city limits.

County Purchasing Clerk Frances Bell told the Adams County Board of Supervisors Monday three companies — Bonaventure, Deep South and Sunbelt Fire — have provided the county with quotes for the truck. Bell said she is waiting for word from a fourth, Pierce Manufacturing.

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“All of the trucks are going to be in the range of $300,000,” Bell said. “We have given a copy of everything to (Natchez Fire Chief Oliver) Stewart. We are waiting for Pierce so we can determine which of the four will meet the criteria the City of Natchez will request.”

The purchase was first delayed last year while the county waited to hear if it would receive a grant to purchase the truck.

After receiving word the county wouldn’t get a grant, officials negotiated a truck purchase with a Louisiana company — a negotiation that ended in December because the company didn’t have a Mississippi vendor’s license.

Since then the county has been discussing the purchase with companies on the Mississippi state contract list.

In other news:

• The board adopted its leadership for 2015, reappointing President Darryl Grennell and Vice President Mike Lazarus.

This will be Grennell’s 13th term as president, and Lazarus’ fourth.

The board also voted to reappoint Scott Slover as its legal counsel, and to retain Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions as the county engineering firm.

• The board voted to start working on a video project explaining how Adams County’s government works.

Lazarus said he saw a similar video for Waldo County, Maine, and thought Adams County could have such a video posted on the county website.

“The video goes into each office in the county and tells what role they play in county government, in anything — in getting a tag, paying taxes, whatever,” Lazarus said. “It takes a tour through the county supervisors’ offices, the sheriff’s office, and I think it would help, because people call me all the time with things they need but that aren’t really my role.”

Board members said they would negotiate the price of production of the project with Bruce Video, the company that currently records the board’s meetings for public access television.

• The board adopted a resolution asking the area’s legislative delegation to authorize the posting of a memorial sign for the late Rev. Dan Alexander on a local highway. Alexander was a Mississippi Department of Transportation employee.

The request for the sign came from City Alderman Ricky Gray, who said he had spoken with Alexander’s family. Gray said he asked the supervisors to adopt the resolution because the highway is outside the city limits.