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[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.