Seagrave, NH Town at Odds Over Additional Funds for Apparatus

The town of Wolfeboro (NH) recently entertained a request from apparatus manufacturer Seagrave Fire Apparatus for additional funding to complete delivery of a fire truck for the community.

A YouTube video from the town’s board of selectmen captured the interaction. Dennis Warren, director of national sales at Seagrave Fire Apparatus, appeared before the board on July 20 to discuss issues impacting the manufacturer’s delivery of the fire truck. Warren cited supply chain issues and skyrocketing costs of various apparatus components as reasons for asking the town for more funding.

Warren used the term “commercially impracticable,” saying that Seagrave faced a loss of more than $226,000 were they to deliver the rig without receiving additional funds from the town.

“If we build your truck, and there’s 50 other trucks that’s on this list…that’s up and down the coast here and out in the Midwest and out on the West Coast,” Warren told officials. “If we build those trucks we likely by the end of the year are going to go out of business. It’s just that simple because we cannot we cannot give away or pay the additional $250,000 to build the truck.”

Supply chain issues have been cited recently in other complications regarding apparatus purchases around the country.

At an August 3 selectmen’s meeting, Town Manager James Pineo said he had been in touch with Wolfeboro legal counsel and discussed their options. He said the town could take the money out of the capital reserve account or hold a special meeting to ask voters if they wanted to pay the difference.

Ultimately, however, Pineo said a decision to challenge Seagrave has been made.

“With some discussion with legal counsel, we have sent a letter to Seagrave telling them to deliver the truck for the contracted price or we’ll see you in court,” Pineo said during the August 3 meeting. “That’s where that lies. We’ll see what happens from that point.”

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