GILFORD — A town budget committee member has filed an objection in superior court to the town’s request for a special town meeting to replace 25-year-old Engine 4, which was taken off the road because of mechanical and electrical problems.

Kevin Leandro, who owns Leandro Trucking in Gilford, has asked a Belknap County Superior Court judge to not grant the special town meeting because the town has not met the criteria needed for such a meeting, he said.

Town officials have said the pumping truck is needed and the old truck is in such bad shape that it would take more than $50,000 to repair it. But Leandro said the truck is repairable, and says the town has enough trucks now to fight its fires.

“There is no emergency here,” Leandro said.

The fire department asked voters for a $450,000 replacement truck at town voting in March, as Engine 4 has mechanical and electrical system problems that are normal for a truck with 25 years of service, town officials said.

The selectmen recommended purchasing the truck, but the budget committee was deadlocked 6-6 on the issue, and voters defeated the article, 915-709.

After that vote, town officials looked at other options. A truck repair shop said it would cost at least $50,000 to fix Engine 4, and the town was told that investing more money into Engine 4 may not be wise. Meanwhile, city officials in neighboring Laconia have made one of the city’s backup engines available Gilford, as a state police inspection legally took the truck off the road shortly after the March vote.

Town officials hope residents would vote differently given new information about repair costs and feasibility of repairing the old truck, so they have asked the court for an emergency town meeting for a second vote. The town’s question to the voters would be slightly different, asking voters to approve a 10-year payment program of paying approximately $50,000 per year on a $441,000 fire truck.

But Leandro says there’s no need for a meeting. In his objection, he says the town has not met the court’s five requirements to justify a town meeting, especially one asking if the needed appropriation could have been made at town meeting.

“It’s not a true emergency, it was handled at the town meeting,” he said.

Leandro also submitted to the court a second warrant article that would have allowed the department up to $150,000 to refurbish the existing pumper tanker, but was not put on the ballot by town officials.

“I’ve owned close to 50 trucks for my business, and I can tell you that truck is not beyond repair,” Leandro said. “And I’m told by other fire departments that a town our size (about 7,100 residents) doesn’t rate four engines.”

dseufert@newstote.com