Tracy Winecoff, a lieutenant with the department, also works for the Landis company which sold the firetruck to the town in August.

Winecoff and Tony Corriher, the dealer for New Lexington Fire Equipment, said they joked around about thousands of dollars in commissions.

Corriher said he made some off the wall comments about giving thousands of dollars to various town officials for buying his truck. “We were joking. It was all jokes,” said Corriher.

Corriher will receive a commission on the sale of the $435,000 truck, but it will amount to only a fraction of the $28,000 figure that has been circulating around China Grove. He said Winecoff will not get any commission on the sale of the truck.

Aldermen John Miller, who heads the town’s fire committee, said town officials were aware Winecoff worked for Corriher and that Corriher’s son is a member of the department before they voted to buy the truck.

Mayor Joseph Sloop and Aldermen Don Webb both expressed surprise this week over Winecoff’s connection with the fire truck dealer. Neither official knew Winecoff worked for Corriher.

Miller said questions about Winecoff’s connection to Corriher are not relevant because Winecoff had no role in deciding what type of truck to buy. “He was not on the truck committee,” said Miller. “There was no big push by him that I am aware of.”

Winecoff said he provided some information early on in a consultant’s role but did not play a role in putting together the final specifications.

He added that his primary job is with Landis Plumbing and Heating and that he gets paid only for hours related to fire and rescue equipment sales.

In August, the town approved the purchase on a split vote. The town got only one bid — from Landis Fire and Rescue Sales. Miller and others checked with legal experts and found that they could go ahead with only one bid.

Miller said this week that he had done his own investigation of why the town only received one bid and had thoroughly checked on the purchase.

“We got a good deal,” said Miller.

He said that once firefighters determined the type of truck they wanted, they got copies of specifications from various fire departments that now use the “quint” style of truck. Firefighters say the “quint” model combines several functions but primarily serves as a pumper and ladder or aerial device. It has substantial storage space, carrying its own hoses and other necessary equipment. One “quint” replaces the need for two or more units and takes fewer people to run.

Some of the specifications came from Salisbury, some from Charlotte and other departments.

In checking with other companies, Miller said he found they did not build to the particular specifications, whether it involved the type of pump, ladder or ladder mount. In one case, a company failed to bid because a salesmen was slow in meeting the deadline.

Miller said he also checked with other fire departments and discovered it is not uncommon to get only one bid.

“I wanted to make sure it was done fair and square,” said the alderman. He blamed the questions about the firetruck on the political season. “It’s disheartening that people spread rumors.”

Corriher said there “is nothing special about the truck” and that any company could have bid on and built it. He added that some companies have all the orders they can handle.

In recent years, Corriher has sold trucks to Rockwell Rural, Mount Ulla and Atwell departments in Rowan and other departments in Iredell and Stanly counties.

Although the quint style of firetruck will be the first for China Grove, several fire departments in the area already use the trucks. For nearly a year, Salisbury has been using a quint truck the city bought from a Florida company for around $424,000.

Rick Fesperman, assistant chief of Salisbury’s department, said the truck has worked well. Nationally, he said, fire departments are moving toward quints, with some large departments, including St. Louis, Mo., using nothing else.