By John Leggett-The Courier-Herald

Buckley City Council members got a treat during their June 10 meeting, getting their first glimpse at the city's new, $360,000 fire engine.

The public will have its initial opportunity to see the shiny, red, firefighting vehicle at 6 p.m. Tuesday outside the Buckley Fire Station at 152 E. Cedar St., during a brief dedication ceremony.

“The time-honored fire service tradition is to pull the old fire engine out of the fire station manually and then manually push the new one into the fire station,” Fire Chief Alan Predmore said, “but this truck is pretty big and heavy so we may need a little horse power to help us carry out the tradition this time around.

“It makes one a little nervous driving that machine around considering the sizable price tag, but that is why we are not going to officially put her into service until June 27, once we get in all of the training time required to get everyone up to speed,” Predmore said.

The remainder of the council agenda was dedicated to voting for the final acceptance of the Foothills Trail system running through Buckley, the skate park next to the youth center and - a year after the project's completion - final approval of the Main Street and Ryan Road paving projects.

Additionally, approval was given to the Buckley Chamber of Commerce to cordon off the customary Buckley Log Show parade route down Main Street and have River Avenue closed off both Saturday and Sunday so vendors can set up.

Despite an eye-catching and mildly disturbing detail on the itemized expense readout of wastewater treatment plant project, council members reluctantly approved the change order.

City Administrator Dave Schmidt said he could understand the reluctance to sign off on a $13,000, 226-foot long, custom-made, aluminum handrail. However, Schmidt also offered that in the grand scheme of the $8 million project, the expense of the necessary safety rail was relatively insignificant.

John Leggett can be reached at jleggett@courierherald.com.