Anderson fire district's $85,000 deposit on water tender in jeopardy

The Anderson Fire Protection District may lose an $85,000 deposit it paid for a new water tender since the equipment company it paid filed for bankruptcy, Fire Chief Andy Nichols said at a district board meeting Tuesday.

Expecting the water tender to be built by Monday, Nichols said he contacted Placer Fire Equipment, Inc. of Mather only to learn it filed chapter 7 bankruptcy March 3.

“This is devastating,” Nichols said. “There is no way I could have foreseen this.”

He added there was a long list of parties seeking some of the company's assets upon liquidation. The fire district was not on the list. Nichols said legal counsel Mike Fitzpatrick was seeking to get the district on that list.

The fire board initially awarded the company the $173,413 bid on Aug. 11, 2009. Funding for the water tender came from a $103,000 grant from Redding Rancheria and an anticipated $70,000 payment from Regency II in lieu of the district's share of Regency II property tax payments, Nichols has said.

Nichols received an e-mail Feb. 2 from the company that the water tender would be completed the week of March 8, he said. The e-mail included a photo of the truck already painted in the Anderson district's signature yellowish-green color.

Kenworth built the chassis of the water tender, which Kenworth has since recovered from Placer Fire Equipment, Nichols said Wednesday. Nichols added that a sales manager from Kenworth would try to find a company to complete the construction of the water tender. However, there is still the question of whether the fire district can recover the $85,000 from the estate of Placer Fire Equipment, Nichols said.

Placer Fire Equipment filed for bankruptcy with $2.9 million in assets and $3.8 million in liabilities, according to documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of California.

In other business, the fire board unanimously approved the $16,987 payment of the court-ordered award of attorneys fees and costs of BRV, Inc., aka Record Searchlight, following a lawsuit over a public records act request.

The Redding newspaper filed a lawsuit after district officials refused to turn over an investigative report regarding allegations of district mismanagement that preceded the July 1 resignation of former Fire Chief Joe Piccinini.

“This should be the end of that era we went through,” Nichols said.

The district held a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. in closed session regarding employee discipline, but adjourned without taking action. Citing a conflict of interest, board member Don Matheson said he was excused from the meeting.

The hearing will continue in closed session on Wednesday, March 17 at 4:30 p.m. at the district fire house.