Town votes to sell second appendage of fire department

With only three board members in attendance, the Cloverdale Town Council voted unanimously at a special meeting Wednesday morning to sell a second fire truck, this one for $10,000.

Council President Don Sublett said he received a bid for the 500-gallon tanker truck from a man in Miami. The list price for the vehicle was $15,000, though because it has a relatively small tank and an open cab, Sublett suggested the council accept the offer.

Beyond that, there was no discussion of whether Cloverdale should sell the truck, likely because both members of the opposition, John Davis and Judy Whitaker, were absent.

Davis said he was unable to attend the morning meeting because he had to work all day. Whitaker said she had to manage the Icebox restaurant because her daughter and son-in-law, who own the business, were busy taking care of their new baby.

Sublett said he changed meeting time, which was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, to 10 a.m. because only he and member Glen Vickroy were able to attend in the evening.

However, Davis said that the only person who could not attend at 7 p.m. was Sublett's ally Dennis Padgett and that, knowing Davis and Whitaker were likely to oppose the sale of the second fire truck, he rescheduled the meeting to accommodate Padgett's schedule.

Davis and Whitaker both voted against selling the first fire truck. They also have an on-going lawsuit against the town that seeks to disband its contract with the township volunteer fire department.

Sublett said he offered to let Whitaker make a vote by telephone and tried to accommodate Davis and her.

The sale of the tanker truck leaves Cloverdale with just one fire engine from the now-disbanded Cloverdale Town Fire Department.

When it is sold, Sublett said he will also try to sell the firefighter gear the town owns.

Both motions to sell the fire trucks put the money toward paying down the 150,000 bond Cloverdale took out to start up the town fire department.