City of Athens officials say they need a new fire truck.
Just like the last time city officials purchased a new one, they announced Monday they’ll once again get help from Ohio University when it comes time to buy it.
The truck, last estimated to cost about $580,000, would replace a 20-year-old model the Athens Fire Department currently uses, city service-safety director Paula Horan-Moseley said. Of that total, OU will provide $250,000 spread out over five years, Horan-Moseley said.
The deal comes as a part of the current Athens-OU memorandum of understanding,
signed in 2012, according to an OU release Monday.
Horan-Moseley said the truck will be used to pump water at fires. She expects it to get significantly more use than the city’s ladder truck. The $1.1 million ladder truck was purchased in 2011, and OU continues to make annual $50,000 payments until OU’s 2016 fiscal year to defray the original cost to the city.
Once those payments stop, the university will make annual $50,000 contributions to the city over the next five years for the new truck, Horan-Moseley said.
“This will greatly assist the city as we plan to purchase (the truck) and we know we have that funding,” Horan-Moseley said. “It provides that level of comfort.”
Monday's announcement comes on the heels of OU's announcement two weeks ago that Bobcat Lane near Baker University Center would open for a six-month trial run. That decision also was based on the 2012 memorandum of understanding.
