COEUR d'ALENE - Bill Dodd is one of nine engineers responsible for conducting daily checks of the fleet of emergency vehicles at the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department.

For almost a decade, Dodd has inspected and operated the department's 1999 E-One Ladder Truck - an essential piece of equipment in the firefighters' arsenal that enables them to climb up to eight stories and fight fires. Captain Greg Rod said that Dodd has spent more hours assigned to the vehicle than anyone else in the department, which gives him intimate knowledge of the challenges associated with maintaining a 15-year-old workhorse.

"It's got 102,000 miles on it and more than 13,000 hours of total use," Dodd said. "The guys at the city shop are always telling us to go easy on it because it takes a lot of time to find replacement parts."

When the ladder truck needed a new electrical control module from the manufacturer, Dodd said an employee at E-One told him the company had never seen an operational ladder truck with so many hours on it that hadn't been completely refurbished.

"It looks great in a parade. But when you get closer to it, the cracks really start to show," Rod said. "It's not a ballet school riding around in this thing. It's a bunch of firefighters using it every single day."

Rod and Dodd both agreed the vehicle will need to be replaced soon.

On May 19, Coeur d'Alene voters will decide whether to approve a $6 million general obligation public safety bond that, if passed, would meet equipment needs for the city's fire and police departments.

Successful passage of the bond requires supermajority support. Two-thirds of the votes cast must be in approval of the measure.

"It's essentially a voter-approved debt to be repaid with property taxes," said Troy Tymesen, the city's finance director.

Fire Chief Kenny Gabriel said successful passage of the bond will set a positive tone for the next decade of public safety in Coeur d'Alene. It would also, he added, bring a plan to fruition that was first considered by city officials after voters passed the first public safety bond, for $7 million, in 2005.

"We looked at it then and thought it was a good, financially responsible, model and said 'Let's do this again in 10 years,'" Gabriel said.

'It had never really been done before'

Gabriel said he realized in 2005 that there was an immediate need to upgrade the facilities used by his department. Station No. 1, which was initially built using donations, was in "desperate need" of an overhaul, he said, and Station No. 2 was too small.

At the same time, the city was continuing to grow, and along with the growth came an increase in calls for service. The engine companies at the time had two firefighters - well below the national standard of four - who trained at a homemade facility Gabriel said was falling apart.

"I had to sit there and ask myself, 'How am I as chief going to rebuild these stations, purchase new equipment and meet the most expensive need for any growing business of hiring more folks?'" Gabriel said.

The chief met with Tymesen to discuss financial options to meet those needs and the idea for a bond was born. That idea was then approved by the city council at the time and put before Coeur d'Alene voters.

"It had never really been done in the city before," Gabriel said. "But to do these things we had to do something that wouldn't negatively affect the general fund. The bond passed and freed up a lot of money, which let us hire people and get all of our equipment."

Funds from the approved bond were immediately put to use. Stations No. 1 and No. 2 were upgraded and a brand new, joint use, training facility was built.

The fire department was also able to purchase two brand new fire engines, and a new brush truck.

"But getting the people on the rigs was the big one," Gabriel said. "It was huge. We completely eliminated those two-person engine companies because of the bond."

Public safety has continued to evolve in Coeur d'Alene since the 2005 bond. Personnel has been added to the fire and police departments to meet the demands of increasing amounts of calls for service.

At the fire department, the types of incidents Gabriel and his staff are asked to respond to have expanded as well, primarily in the realm of emergency medical services. In the past, calls for paramedics were handled by a private entity and when that group folded the fire service took over the responsibilities.

"We have one of the best models for emergency medical services in the country," Gabriel said.

In addition to providing EMS services, the department now responds to calls on Lake Coeur d'Alene, has urban search and rescue capabilities, a K9 team and an outreach team focused on public education.

"We've become an all-hazard fire department and we want to continue to be a department that is a national leader in providing those services to the public," Gabriel said. "But we can't be a leader outside unless we take care of business inside."

Tired vehicles

Under national guidelines, fire engines and ladder trucks are given a shelf life of 10 and 15 years, respectively. Gabriel said all the vehicles used by the department, with the exception of one fire engine, have reached or exceeded that national standard.

"Our vehicles are tired and they all have well over 100,000 miles," Gabriel said. "And even though we might have a vehicle with 130,000 miles on it, you have to double those miles because it spends so much time in high idle sitting on the street. These are very, very hard miles we put on these vehicles."

The vehicles need more and more maintenance on them due to their age and the costs increase as the parts for those vehicles become out of date.

"I thank God for the city maintenance crews and their ability to make these vehicles last as long as they have," Gabriel said.

As such, vehicle acquisitions make up the majority of the more than $5 million in bond funds the fire department would use if it passes. Gabriel said a replacement ladder truck with a $1.4 million price tag is the most expensive anticipated purchase.

He said the 100-foot ladder on the truck is used often by the department because it allows firefighters to tackle even single-story house fires in a safer manner.

"It's actually a safe haven for the guys," Gabriel said. "It's a platform for them to do what they need to do. We look at time and safety in everything we do and with the ladder truck both of those aspects are improved."

Gabriel added that if the bond passes, they would retire most of the department's reserve fleet and move the current front-line fleet to reserve status.

The police department would use $925,000 of the bond funds, primarily to purchase new equipment. Police Chief Lee White said one of the critical acquisitions would be new vehicles for detectives and other personnel.

"The proposal would allow for replacement of seven high-mileage unmarked vehicles which each currently have over 100,000 miles," White said. "The police department has 20 cars that are over 10 years old and this purchase will result in reduced maintenance expenses."

Those vehicles, White added, would be purchased as soon as the bond passes.

The department would also buy a mobile command center and a crime scene vehicle. Purchasing the two specialized vehicles for approximately $300,000 would allow the department to meet the needs of investigating complex crimes scenes while also streamlining the command structure, White said.

"Having the ability to bring a mobile command post to a scene or event allows for a more efficient use of the employees' time and improved command and control capabilities," White said.

On top of meeting the equipment needs for the police and fire departments, the public officials behind the bond wanted a proposal that would be significantly less than the $7 million price tag of the 2005 bond.

"Mayor (Steve) Widmyer made it very clear that yes we need to do this, but we have to lower that burden on the taxpayers," Gabriel said.

'I really do think it's a win-win'

Widmyer gave the city's public safety officials a mandate while they were in the final stages of preparing the bond - present something that costs less for taxpayers than the one passed in 2005.

"I want them to be the best-equipped, and I feel like everybody wants that," Widmyer said. "But if we can also find a way to save money, that's the direction I want to go in."

"We were all in on it," Gabriel added. "We don't need any big buildings this time to come out of the bond, we just need the rolling stuff. So it was very easy for us to meet those wishes."

Tymesen, who worked closely with public safety officials to determine the $6 million amount, said accomplishing the goal mandated by the mayor would have been a bigger challenge just two years ago because of the recession.

But things have changed.

"It's a great time to go to the market," Tymesen said. "It's a great time for a healthy community to get money at that low interest rate."

He said the city's strong bond rating, coupled with the attractiveness of voter-approved debt to lenders, creates an ideal situation for pursuing the bond at this time.

The cost of the bond to the owner of a home with a taxable assessed value of $200,000 - minus the homeowner's exemption - is expected to be $46 per year.

The same homeowner is paying $56 per month for the expiring 2005 bond.

"It's a lesser dollar amount and we're getting the equipment we need over the next 10 years to serve the public," Widmyer said. "I really do think it's a win-win."

'We would just be limping along'

Tymesen said that if the bond fails at the polls, it will be a challenge to find the millions of dollars needed to meet the equipment demands of the city's public safety agencies.

"Our fallback might have to be what we did during the recession, which was to stop making capital purchases," Tymesen said. "We'd ultimately probably have to go back to the voters and ask them what we can do to show that there is this need."

Widmyer said that the city would more than likely need to use its general fund to meet the minimum amount of equipment needed for the agencies.

"That's really the downside of it," Widmyer said. "We are going to be mandated to have this equipment because our No. 1 job is public safety. We want to make sure that we are there to respond in a timely manner."

Gabriel said the back-up plan, in the event the bond does not pass, is to use savings in the city's contribution to the Firefighters Retirement Fund to bankroll some of the department's equipment needs.

"We would obviously replace a great deal less. We'd have to get creative," Gabriel said. "But those fire engines and the ladder truck have got to be replaced. We don't like the idea of hoping a fire truck can make it to a scene - bad things happen."

He said he would have to do something he does not like doing - going to the city council with his hand out.

"And that's not fair to them and it's not fair to the taxpayers," Gabriel said.

If the bond fails, the police department will continue to use the same vehicles and put the other planned expenditures on hold.

'I think it's going to work'

Widmyer and Gabriel both said they are aware of how hard it is to pass a bond, especially given the two-thirds voter approval needed. However when advocating for the bond, Widmyer looked to the success of the bond that passed in 2005.

"Ten years ago more than two-thirds of the people thought it was a good idea and it has worked well - we have a great fire department," Widmyer said. "I think that's the case again and I think it's going to work. It's the ability to pay for this really expensive equipment in an economical way."

Gabriel said his department's job is keeping citizens safe, and they are trying to do that well, in the most economical way.

"We've done our homework and we're going out and getting the best equipment possible for the money," Gabriel said. "It's all a part of our strategic planning to provide a greater service to the community with the hopes of spending less money."