Two town hall meetings have been scheduled so citizens can ask questions about the proposed measures. The first meeting will be at 6 p.m. tonight at Orval Ray Towers, 4613 Tinker Diagonal. The second meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday at Sunnylane Family Church, Southeast 41st Street and Sunnylane Road.

Almost half of the funds would be spent on a new ladder truck and two new pumpers. The new fire vehicles would help replace an old and oftenrepaired fleet that dates back to 1985.

The fire department’s current ladder truck is a 1999 model. The current pumper trucks are 1985 models.

The trucks would be purchased over a three-year period, City Manager Mark Edwards said.

“These trucks are so old it’s difficult to find replacement parts for them,” he said.

When the vehicles break down, city officials are sometimes forced to ship them back to the manufacturer for repair.

“At one time, two of the big rigs were down,” he said.

During the last five years, an estimated $167,000 has been spent on repairs of the three pump trucks and two brush pumpers. Because trucks were being repaired, fire coverage has been limited at times, Del City fire officials said.

On three occasions during the last eight months, two of the three engine trucks were out of service at the same time due to maintenance issues. That left only one available fire engine to cover the entire city, forcing fire officials to temporarily close fire station No. 2 and move personnel to station No. 1.

“By doing this, citizens were placed at greater risk by having an increased response time from the department, especially on the south end of the city, for both fire and medical responses,” fire department spokesman Brandon Pursell said.

SIREN CITY

Meanwhile, about $250,000 in bond proceeds would be used to replace storm sirens and allow city officials to relocate existing sirens to higher growth areas.

“Our newest siren is from 2005, and the rest of them are so old, they still have the civil defense stickers on them,” Edwards said. “We have sirens in places where they shouldn’t be, and we need to place them in more populated areas. We have one siren right in the middle of the cemetery at Southeast 29th and Sunnylane. We need to relocate some so we can get maximum coverage around the city.”

The bond issue money would pay for 10 new sirens. No more than two of the existing sirens would be kept, Edwards said.

The new sirens would be louder, solar-powered and have the ability to make voice announcements. The existing sirens operate off electricity.

Bond issue proceeds also would pay to correct three major drainage problems in Del City: the Hartsdale addition, Lariat Lane and the area surrounding the intersection at Judy and Howard drives. The three areas have experienced substantial flooding issues during heavy rainfall, Edwards said. All of the drainage projects would cost an estimated $3 million.

The Hartsdale housing addition is viewed by city officials as the most critical drainage issue. Homes flood and motorists become stranded when heavy rain occurs. As a result, city officials propose to reconstruct the Cherry Creek flood channel from Southeast 44th to Southeast 29th as well as include retention ponds and bridge work.

“I’ve seen it get up to 8 feet in depth,” Edwards said.

The July 12 election will be the first time since 1992 that city officials have called a general obligation bond issue. The bond issue, if approved, will not raise taxes, Edwards said.

tfarley@eastword.net