[0:14] All right, it's 5:00. I'm going to call
our meeting to order. This is our city
[0:20] council special session for Wednesday,
December 17th, 2025.
[0:25] It is 5:00 p.m. And so being called to
order, we have a forum present
[0:42] on this time of year as we should every
day of the year. Thank you for Jesus
[0:47] Christ. That what Christmas is all
about. Thank you so much for Jesus
[0:51] coming into this world dying for our
sins. Hope you guys should be with us as
[0:55] the city council that you take care of
the business of the city should give us
[0:58] the wisdom we need to do that. I do want
to pray for each and every one of our
[1:02] know.
[1:06] That's my prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
I aliance to the flag of the United
[1:13] States of America and to the republic
for it stands one nation
[1:19] indivisible with liberty and justice for
all. Texas flag
[1:26] to the Texas. One state
one and indivisible.
[1:42] meeting special [clears throat] session
meeting. Uh we have one item on the
[1:46] agenda and that's discussion and
possible action on authorizing purchase
[1:51] a [clears throat] fire truck.
We have y'all have copies of the bid.
[2:00] » This is not really a bid because we
didn't go out for
[2:04] this.
>> It's a it's a quote. We don't have to go
[2:08] out for this on on this particular
>> Okay.
[2:13] last week,
>> Mr. H.
[2:17] » It's on HG.
>> I think that's what I said.
[2:22] Contract all everybody's on the same
contract.
[2:27] Instead, we had to go out for
[2:38] » on this truck
>> on
[2:47] it doesn't matter. It's on this truck.
We don't have to go out.
[2:51] » So, uh, is there any discussion question
from council?
[2:59] I'm going to stand up and I'm just going
to break it out.
[3:02] As a car chief, city of West Orange
wanted me to come in here and do this.
[3:08] This water truck that y'all want to
purchase is useless for the city of West
[3:12] Orange. The taxpayer, this is not what
we need. This is ridiculous. I'll be
[3:18] first up to you. If you buy this, we got
you want this truck. Y'all want to use
[3:23] this truck? They're pretty much going to
use this truck for whatever the road
[3:28] bridge or the road drainage cuz this is
not a fire truck. There's no place to
[3:32] put our equipment on it. We bought all
this equipment that we've been
[3:35] purchasing, jaws and airbags and all
this stuff that's going on both the
[3:39] truck. There's not even a spot to put
this stuff. Where are we going to carry
[3:42] our hose at? We have a th000 ft of 5 in
on that other truck that we want to
[3:46] replace. Where you going to put it on
this truck? There's no hill on it. This
[3:50] truck is useless. If I was a taxpayer of
West Orange, I'd be aggravated and
[3:55] pissed if y'all saw this truck because I
know as a fireman, as a fire chief, this
[4:00] is not what we need. If I not a police
car, I'm sure Mr. Kelly wouldn't want me
[4:03] to go back on his police car or police
only know they're even under the right
[4:09] deal. Are those
truths?
[4:12] » There's no standard.
>> There's no standard.
[4:14] » But this is not what we need. I'm not
going to get fight.
[4:18] Did y'all buy this truck to waste the
money? I think you ought to take the
[4:22] money. You don't want to buy a fire
truck and go buy him some play around
[4:26] with it, sir.
>> So, if you take that truck to a fire,
[4:30] you can't fire it.
>> Yeah. If you fight a fire halfway and
[4:37] that it's only got a 500 gpm pump. So,
buying the shrub for the rating is going
[4:42] to make our rating go up instead of back
down where we've been trying to get it
[4:46] to go down. As far as the ISO rating,
it's going to make go up because we're
[4:50] losing a th00p
of a pump. So, that's going to hurt us
[4:55] on that part.
>> What makes this different as far as the
[4:59] water
pump? Yeah, something. And you ain't got
[5:05] I don't have any place to put hoses.
>> Right. Right.
[5:08] » And I don't have any places to put hand
tools or ladders. It cannot be a direct
[5:13] replacement for engine one. engine one
goes down. This truck will not cover
[5:18] that truck.
So, you know, you only got a 750.
[5:23] There's actually a 750 GP on here. And
we need to be I mean, that's one of the
[5:28] hits we took on ISO anyway because we
didn't have pump for what we need
[5:32] inside.
You got Walmart, the old Walmart, got
[5:37] these apartments over here, you got some
industrial, you know, live industrials.
[5:42] I mean the big warehouses and there's a
couple warehouses
[5:46] they ain't going this truck won't build
do anything
[5:51] you know it's
barely do a single home
[5:56] and then you can't handle ho you have to
lay a line with you
[6:02] this truck more made for a rural fire
district if you live way out in the
[6:07] woods somewhere and you had to shut
water took off that's what this truck
[6:11] would be
This is like a third or fourth.
[6:14] » It's just built to carry water back and
forth where you ain't got to get hand
[6:17] tools and all that stuff off of it.
You're not laying line. It's just
[6:21] basically a water truck. So all carry
the water back and forth to a fire. We
[6:25] have fire pretty much everywhere. The
grant is for a tanker truck. So you got
[6:30] to put it as a tanker with a dump. So
pretty much buying the engine and
[6:33] putting a dump on the back of it to make
it qualify for what it is to be able to
[6:37] get the brand
out.
[6:42] That's what we got. We need to replace
an engine. We don't need I mean this is
[6:47] a
that's a way to get around it.
[6:51] Basically, we got to replace an engine.
This is not an engine. This is a
[6:58] tank. It is all strictly to shovel
water. It is not made to fight fire.
[7:08] Gral water. or water. That's right. But
you can
[7:14] upgrade it to a pumper.
You know, this truck had a hose on it
[7:19] and a bigger pump. It still be a
your your statement then was correct.
[7:26] You can upgrade it if you have the money
to upgrade.
[7:32] She doesn't have the money to upgrade.
[7:41] I mean, you might throw all the way to
GR and you'll never get enough.
[7:46] » You know, this is not
[7:54] for us by this.
[7:59] It's it won't fit the need that's
needed.
[8:05] Now, we was keeping the 10 was in better
shape.
[8:09] But I need to replace
[8:13] and
what you what you need and what the city
[8:17] can afford
are two different things.
[8:22] » The city can't afford
Well, we really can't afford to spend
[8:26] the extra $70,000. It's going to cost
this truck
[8:31] whatever.
We're I'm I'm sorry. I'm speaking for
[8:37] myself only, not the rest of the
council.
[8:42] This this is this is what the the city
really can't afford to spend that
[8:46] $7,000. Y'all don't understand. You seem
to keep pushing and saying that the that
[8:53] we can get something that we cannot. I
can't afford to pay the bills that we
[8:59] have coming in right now. And All we're
doing is spending money that we have
[9:05] another fund. By the time this by this
time next year, we will not have any
[9:12] money in the the fund that we're
spending all the money out of. It's it's
[9:17] a limited resource. We just don't have
the funds to buy a5 or $600,000 to spend
[9:24] another three or $400,000 on fire.
>> If this won't help you, that's your
[9:30] choice. Y'all decide whether you do or
do not want. This is what
[9:36] this is what we can get you.
[9:44] » Well, here's the thing. They don't want
you. They want you to order
[9:52] it so long. I mean, a year to safely say
[10:00] anybody Go ahead. Hang on.
[10:07] » The need for the city and for the fire
department in order to effectively fight
[10:12] fires in the city and and I don't
believe that that we need to spend the
[10:18] extra $70,000
if there are any other options.
[10:23] If this isn't going to give them what
they need
[10:31] in better shape
[10:36] is unreliable.
[10:40] We got electrical problem and ain't
nobody
[10:50] » want to make a motion to not
[10:54] motion.
>> We have a motion and a second. Is there
[10:58] any more discussion?
[11:15] We got 10.
[11:29] Somebody got
somebody.
[11:34] » I'll take that brand new truck out
there. We've been spending money on all
[11:40] of the equipment that you need.
[11:46] » But when we don't have money, what do
you want to do? What we do? What do you
[11:51] want to do?
>> I'm willing I'm willing to spend money.
[11:55] Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
>> I'm willing to spend money on repairing
[11:59] the truck that's out there, but I can't
afford the city can't afford to spend uh
[12:06] what what the fire chief and the
assistant fire chief are saying they
[12:11] have to have in order to uh purchase
fire trucks.
[12:16] » I I'm not going to do it. They do have
another option and it's up to y'all.
[12:21] That's all I could. Every other city and
county in the county of Orange County
[12:27] does this. They finance the fire truck
so they don't have to pay the full
[12:32] amount up front. You can take it all out
at one time. It takes over a year to get
[12:37] the truck. You can put that money up
into an account and make interest off of
[12:41] that account until the truck comes in.
Cypress just did it on their new engine
[12:45] and they just did it on their new tanker
that they're actually getting today. The
[12:49] same grant that we got, they're getting
their tanker today. This is something
[12:52] that does work and you can break the
payments into smaller amounts. In 2022,
[12:58] we spent $150,000 on police cars. On
2023, we spent $220,000.
[13:04] That's the same price you'd be paying a
year for a fire truck. Fire trucks 10
[13:09] times the size of police.
Everybody does it and it really does
[13:14] work. I think the board for the council
should look into that option. I know
[13:18] y'all don't like it. I think it's
definitely something that could benefit
[13:22] the city and help in the long term
purchase of
[13:30] » amen
[13:40] that motion.
So the motion has been
[13:46] amended and second's been amended.
Second follow up with the amended
[13:53] motion. Is there any other discussion?
[14:03] If not, I'll call for vote. All in favor
say I.
[14:08] All
>> oppos. Motion carries.
[14:13] Next item on the list is to this meeting
is a jar.