The City of Natchez recently approved the purchase of a nearly $1 million ladder fire truck after months of planning and concern.

The purchase was needed and necessary, but the urgency with which the purchase came was not.

The impending threat of a diminished fire rating was the equivalent of a gun to the city’s head and appeared to be necessary to move the plan forward.

But the City should be paying attention to such issues more proactively and less out of urgent fear of pending doom.

City leaders must work to more carefully plan how to avoid such in the future.

Certainly a simple schedule and an annual review with the state ratings agency could avoid sudden, $1 million surprises in the future.

This isn’t a practice game; it’s the real thing; and real lives and real dollars are at risk.

Just like the garbage contract debacle from a year when the city almost found itself with no garbage collection agreement, the fire truck problems could — and should — have been prevented.

We strongly urge city leaders to make a plan now so we all know when the next fire truck will need to be replaced and prepare to have funding lined up in advance to avoid another panic simply due to lack of planning.