Supply chain issues stall arrival of new Holton fire engine

Supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are pushing back the estimated arrival of a new “first-out” fire engine for Holton’s fire department again, and this time, it’s requiring the Holton City Commission to request a time extension on the grant that’s being used to help cover the cost of the new fire engine.

At their regular meeting on Tuesday evening, Jan. 17, held a day later than normal due to the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday observance on Monday, commissioners approved a request for a 12-month extension on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the Kansas Department of Commerce to allow the fire engine’s builder time to complete the fire truck.

Brett Waggoner of Lawrence-based Governmental Assistance Services, which has been assisting the city with the CDBG application, told commissioners that Holton is not the only city that has been having to file extensions on CDBG applications, since supply chain issues are plaguing cities and counties elsewhere in Kansas.

Waggoner also noted that while the Department of Commerce generally wants projects completed within two years of a CDBG award, the department also recognizes that the situation is beyond the city’s control and that while the department has also rescinded such awards in the past, those actions have been “very, very rare.”

“They’re expecting this,” Waggoner said of the city’s CDBG extension request. “I would be very, very surprised if this didn’t go through.”

In November of 2021, commissioners approved a $970,595 bid from Hays Fire and Rescue Sales and Service of Hays for a new fire engine with a 109-foot aerial ladder, with an estimated delivery date of January 2023, it was reported.

Hays Fire and Rescue was announced as the winning bidder for the new fire engine after the Kansas Department of Commerce, which administers CDBG funds, announced in February of 2021 that the city would receive those funds to cover half the purchase of a new fire engine.

The city had planned to purchase a new fire engine to replace a 1999 truck that had a 65-foot aerial ladder since 2019, due to the National Fire Protection Association’s recommendation that “first-out” fire engines be replaced after 20 years of service, lest it negatively affect the city’s fire protection rating and drive up fire insurance rates.

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