GARDEN CITY — Garden City Town Councilman Doug Pender attended his last meeting of the Garden City Town Council and in his parting remarks noted the progress of the town’s fire department and his appreciation for the chief and firefighters.

“Words won’t allow me to express how much I appreciated knowing you’re right there,” he told Chief James Johnson. “I think everybody can see that [the fire department] has really made improvements.”

Pender was appointed to fill a vacancy created when Gene Norman died unexpectedly. He chose not to run for reelection. “I really love Garden City,” he said. “I really appreciated the opportunity to serve and I hope we made the town better.

“Running [for office] wasn’t what the the Lord had for me to do,” he added.

Councilman Scott Arnold told Pender that he was someone Arnold relied on both on the council and in the community. “I’ve always relied on you,” he told Pender. “You’re my rock, brother. I appreciate you being on this council.”

Mayor Tim Eskew echoed Arnold’s comments, noting that it was Pender who helped grow the fire department. “There’s no way possible to thank your for all the things you’ve done for us,” said Eskew. The department, said Eskew, is the envy of other towns because of its training and the level of participation from volunteers. “We have a good thing going in the fire department,” he said.

The growth of the fire department continued with the town council voting to purchase a $95,000 mini-pumper. Fire Chief Johnson said the new truck will get the town in compliance with the ISO – an insurance rating company that rates departments on a scale of 1 to 10 – which could lead to a reduced ISO rating. The lower the rating, the less homeowners pay in insurance. Johnson said the town’s current rating is a 9. In addition, the American Emergency Products Truck, has the capability of spraying water while the truck is in motion, allowing firefighters to fight hay field fires better, Johnson said.

The town will offset the cost of the truck by using proceeds from recent surplus equipment sales. Eskew said the town anticipates receiving about $20,000 from selling fire department equipment, leaving a balance of $75,000 for the truck. The council approved using a CD as collateral for a three-year, renewable loan to purchase the truck. Eskew said the bank is offering the town a 1.80 percent interest rate on the loan.

With monthly payments of about $900, the chief said that’s just under a quarter of the department’s revenues each month. “It’s not going to hit my budget too hard,” he said. “We just have to watch our Ps and Qs.”

Council members agreed to the purchase, saying it continued the growth of the department. “Our fire department is turning into a top-notch department,” said Councilman Butch Bradford.

The council also approved its 2021 budget, anticipating $311,541 in revenues, a decrease from the 2020 revenues, which were anticipated to be $317,063. Expenses for 2021 are projected at $312,844 for the year, down from the previous year’s budget of $332,781.

Following the meeting, Eskew told The Times that the council was being cautious in its projections. “We’d rather err on the side of caution,” he said.

One area where the town has found additional revenues is in selling its surplus equipment. The mayor told the council that so far the town has received $53,397 from selling surplus property, with several more items yet to be sold on GovDeals. The council approved auctioning off other surplus property this month.

In other business, the council set a $25 non-refundable fee for use of the town pavilion to help cover costs of cleanup and maintenance.

Discussions over what to do with the old Garden City School continued, with council members saying that even if they could get the building renovated, there’s no clear use for it and the cost of maintaining and insuring it would be prohibitive.