Ways and Means Committee Meeting 03-23-26

All right, this is the City Council's Committee of Ways and Means. This is Monday, March 23rd, 2026. We're at 6 p.m. I have Councilor Rogers.

Here.

I have Councilor Pietrantonio. Here. Here. We have two members present. We do not have a courtroom yet. So we will have to wait for the council. Do we have a council? Yes, we do. Councilor Smith.

Present.

Present. We do have a quorum. I'm going to stand and salute the flag.

Please stand and salute the flag, please.

I pledge allegiance. We have one item on the agenda and that item is an order of by council Stephanie Smith the president in order to appropriate $780,000 for the general fund budgetary fund balance to fund the purchase of a fire suppression apparatus.

I see we have a representative from the fire department here.

Motion to invite the representative from the fire department. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Good afternoon. I'm good. How are you? So I've talked to the chief on this one. Oh, can you please state your name for the record? I don't know if your mic's on. There you go.

There you go. Sabato LaRusso.

Thank you. Do we have any questions for the deputy chief?

Rogers. Thank you, Madam Chair, through you. I did talk to the chief as well, but if you could elaborate for the public at home. I know we're saving 50% on this expense. but if you could just explain exactly what that is so that the people at home understand as well.

Sure, so this is going to replace our current engine 3 which is a 2010 Pierce Arrow. The purchase price is $778,536 and We're going to get it within 150 to 180 days, which if we were to go through Pierce, it would take anywhere from two and a half to three years as a lead time on that.

And how many fire engines do we currently have?

Fire Engines, we have four. Three are in service and one is to spare.

All right, thank you. Councilor Pietrantonio?

It's going to take three to four years to build.

If we were to get it through Pierce or another manufacturer, the lead times are getting longer and longer. It's just been a problem that's been going on since COVID.

And where's this truck going with that station?

This will be going to Ferry Street Station. It's going to replace our current Engine 3. And the lead time on this, because we're not getting it custom built, is, according to the manufacturer, 150 to 180 days.

Okay, we don't have a height difference anymore on the garages. I think, was it central garage, the height? We had to get it special made because of height? I think we raised that, didn't we?

Yes, correct. A couple years ago? That's more on the ladder trucks because they're a lot taller on the engines. We don't really have to worry about the height so much. They're not as tall as the ladder trucks, but that was addressed. Rested Central. It's still kind of tight. It's not like a modern fire station. But when we do order them, we make sure that they do fit in those fire stations.

Is this one of the older vehicles? It must be the oldest pump truck in the fleet?

It's one of them. We purchased this in 2010, so it's a 2010, so it's fairly old. It's past its life expectancy.

All right, thank you.

Any further questions?

Motion to excuse.

Motion to be seconded and to be excused. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? I do have a question. Thank you. You're all set. I do have a question for the CFO, if I may. Bring him forward.

Motion to invite the CFO.

Thank you.

Second.

Motion made and seconded to invite the CFO before us. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it.

Good evening.

Good evening. Can you just state your name for the record?

Omar Wakili.

Thank you. The question I have is, what is the reason that we're borrowing this from free cash versus our capital stabilization?

We could have gone either way. We could have used our capital stabilization fund, after which we would have replenished it with our free cash. We just decided to Go straight to free cash, make it super quick. It makes the proceedings here a lot easier and more straightforward. And wanted to give the fire department the ability to jump on the opportunity.

Thank you.

Sorry, I should say we're also trying to preserve reserves right now to make sure we're in good footing.

Thank you. Councilor Pietrantonio?

I mean, I don't... Free cash. For this particular... I don't mind, but everything comes out of free cash. I know everyone says it's free cash, but really, it's not free cash. Am I correct in saying that? That just bugs me when someone calls it free cash.

you're absolutely correct it is absolutely not free it's unallocated funds so we call them free cash because we can use them multiple ways it's not something that's dedicated to a very specific purpose but this item is the cost is high enough it's a one-time purchase It qualifies to use free cash, so we decided to go free cash.

Okay, I just hope, I know the previous administration, everything was free cash, free cash. I hope this administration does go down that same road.

I would prefer that we maintain the balanced status quo. I think that we need to use our capital stabilization funds for for emergencies and for exceptional one-time purchases. It's also a positive to show healthy reserves to bond rating agencies and other auditing entities. I think we should also use our ability to borrow if the interest rates are favorable. We haven't gone out to borrow yet. We did get an authorization to borrow for Fuller Park. But I think that we should use every tool we have at our disposal. Free cash is not the only way to go. What is the balance in free cash? It's a little under 3 million right now, I think between 2.5 and 3 million. I can't get you an exact number.

And how comfortable are you? Where do you stop? Like, is there a... For you to be CFO, do you say, okay, listen, we only get X amount of free cash, we're going to start taking out of that? Is there a balance you'd like to keep in there?

Yes, where we are right now. I also really like putting that free cash in stabilization funds, be it for capital purposes or as rainy day funds. We will probably have to plug some budget deficit during our budget. But if we don't use that free cash by the end of the fiscal year, we lose the ability to use it forever. Rogers. I have no further questions.

I was going to make a motion to excuse unless there's any other questions. Second.

Motion made and seconded to excuse. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? You guys have it. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Motion for favorable action? Second. Motion made and seconded for favorable action to be referred to the City Council. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. Motion made and seconded to adjourn. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it.

Meeting adjourned.