By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

Florence fire chief Mark Slater on Monday spoke with city councilmen about partial funding for a new one-ton brushfire truck.

“We’ve been upgrading slowly,” he said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s little steps at a time, and we’re just upgrading our equipment as time goes along.”

Slater previously looked at purchasing a new pumper truck, but said the department’s 162,000-mile brush truck is more in need of replacement.

“I have enough pumpers that are doing well,” he said. “This brush truck now, it’s getting worn out.”

The $46,000 purchase would require $12,000 contributions from Florence, as well as Doyle and Fairplay Townships, and $10,000 from the fire department.

No decision is being made until Slater can receive word from the townships on approval of their portions of the cost.

Councilmen decided to update employee handbooks in case the city is hit with COVID-19 or a similar pandemic in the future.

“We need to do something in case one of them ever comes down with something in the future,” city councilman Ken Hoffman said.

The council discussed guaranteeing salaries and benefits if any city employees become ill, but the matter was tabled until more information could be gathered.