Lubbock City Council Authorizes Purchase of Two Ladder-Trucks for Lubbock Fire Department

At a brief and snowy meeting, the Lubbock City Council authorized a contract to purchase two ladder-trucks for the Lubbock Fire Department at a cost of more than $1.7 million.

The two trucks – a 101-foot aerial platform truck and a 78-foot ladder truck – will be purchased from Daco Fire Safety Equipment. The 101-foot and 78-foot trucks will be allocated to Station 7 and 3, respectively. The council also passed a consent item reclassifying six firefighting positions to man Engine 19.

The council quickly passed 16 consent items without discussion and passed two more without discussion after Councilman Victor Hernandez recused himself. The items Hernandez recused himself from concerned business with the YWCA of Lubbock.

Board appointments were then considered by the council including the Urban Design & Historic Preservation Commission and the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Without dissent, the council voted to reappoint Katherine Ehlers to the Urban Design & Historic Preservation Commission. Scott Schellhase’s and Scott White’s terms were both up and had their seats filled by Abel Hernandez and Melanie Clark, respectively. There were four seats available in the Zoning Board of Adjustment with Paul Goebel and Sheila Harris being reappointed. Glen Patton was not eligible for reappointment and council members voted unanimously to fill his vacancy will alternate board member Joe McKay. The council then voted to postpone filling the seat left vacant by McKay’s shift until the next regularly scheduled meeting.

During the regular agenda, the council held public hearings for four zoning changes including two cellphone towers for Verizon Wireless. The council also held a public hearing and received comments in favor of a 107-acre land annexation north of 146^th Street and East of Quaker Ave. A spokesman from Ford Development spoke in favor of the annexation. Ford’s Kelsey Park is located in the parcel.