The Odessa City Council on Nov. 24 approved three separate equipment purchases, including 35 sets of firefighter bunker gear, 11 vehicles for the solid waste division and 11 vehicles for the streets division.

Council members voted to allow the Odessa Fire Rescue to buy 35 sets of bunker gear at a price of $127,750, to be paid from a lifeline account already earmarked for personal protective equipment. Fire Chief Cotton told the council the new gear meets NFPA 1971 standards and replaces gear that has reached its end of life.

City staff also presented two vehicle procurement items. Christina, a city procurement presenter for the solid waste division, told the council the department will purchase two automatic side-loader trucks, six commercial side loaders and three automatic roll-off trucks through the TIPS cooperative; the vehicles are replacements for an aging fleet and are expected to be delivered by July 2025. She gave a total cost “a little less than $3,700,000.”

A separate streets-division purchase covers six dump trucks, two patch trucks, one wind truck, one water truck and one cab tractor, also procured through the TIPS cooperative with an estimated cost “just a little over $2,100,000.” City staff said all streets vehicles should be delivered by June 2025.

Each purchase was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote with no recorded nay votes on the record.

Council members emphasized that the vehicle purchases replace units that “have reached the end of their usable service life” and said the replacements are expected to reduce repair and maintenance costs and improve service efficiency.

The council did not specify detailed roll-call tallies in the meeting minutes for these votes.