Egg Harbor Township throws out lone fire truck bid; state report raised concerns
From the Atlantic City Press Published: Friday, October 10, 2008
By MICHELLE LEE Staff Writer, 609-272-7256
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - After arguing for a half-hour about the recent bidding process for a new fire truck, the Egg Harbor Township Fire Department and Township Committee agreed to reject the result and start over.
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Township officials opened bid documents for a new rescue pumper for the Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company on Sept. 29. The only bid, for about $461,000, came from Guardian Fire Equipment, based in Harleysville, Pa. The fire truck would have come from E-One, an Ocala, Fla.-based fire equipment manufacturer.
Mayor James "Sonny" McCullough and Township Administrator Peter Miller raised questions about why the bid came in $61,000 higher than the fire department's 2008 truck budget, and why only one company responded. The issue came up during Tuesday's regular Township Committee meeting, which was attended by more than 30 firefighters.
Miller said township officials became more concerned about the bid because of a state Commission of Investigation report on the subject of fire truck purchases. The 61-page report, released Sept. 16, showed some fire companies had bidding irregularities and conflicts of interest in the purchase new trucks, which can range in price from $200,000 to $1 million.
The commission report found instances where proposals were fixed to favor one company and firefighters doubled as employees of fire truck companies and earned sales commissions from selling equipment to their own departments. The report said that the method of obtaining new trucks lacks transparency and makes it hard to conduct meaningful price and product comparisons among different fire truck manufacturers.
Other manufacturers supplied the township with fire trucks in the past, and Miller said the government officials wanted to make sure there wasn't a conflict of interest with this bid. Miller said he noticed the fire department's bid proposal was almost identical to the company's proposal. Egg Harbor Township Fire Chief Bill Danz initially reminded Township Committee members that he told them last spring the department would need more funds for the fire truck when they were drawing up the 2008 budget. Danz said the pumper is "a bare-bones truck" that would last the department more than 20 years.
At the same time, Miller said he was concerned about sending firefighters to Florida to inspect the truck since the report mentioned that one fire truck sales agent took advantage of the inspection trip and went on a golf outing with three friends. Danz said the department previously sent firefighters for truck inspections without problems.
After both parties held a short executive session meeting, Danz agreed that the bid will be thrown out amid concerns raised by the state report and a new bid for a fire truck will be drawn up within a month.
McCullough said the township "needed to make sure all the bases are covered," and if the new bid ends up around the same price, the township will find the extra money.
E-mail Michelle Lee: MLee@pressofac.com
