Salem — The town's two fire departments need new trucks, hoses and gear, and the school board needs new lockers, representatives of the three departments told the Salem Board of Finance.

The Board of Education, the Salem Volunteer Fire Company and Gardner Lake Volunteer Fire Company presented lists of more than $6 million in needed capital improvements to the finance board on Thursday. The requests are part of proposed 10-year capital improvements plan.

Each group presented the long-term plans, but only the first year of the plans are up for approval. Finance board Chairman T.J. Butcher said presenting the requests this far in advance will help reduce the number of last-minute requests during the budget year.

"What we're trying to do is take control of what's on the 10-year plan, so by the time we get to budget season, which is about a month away, there are no surprises," he said.

In the case of the Salem fire company, doing the plans this way also helped catch a $775,000 error — a request for a new truck in 2020-21 was mistakenly on the list, according Fire Chief Rick Martin.

For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the Salem company is requesting a total of $730,000 to replace its 1991 open cab engine tanker, two full sets of gear and old hosing, and to continue funding a training building that will eventually be used by both fire companies.

The Gardner Lake fire company is requesting $493,950 to replace its 1988 pumper tanker, the telephone communication system at the firehouse, three sets of gear and old hosing. The fire company is also seeking a slip-resistant floor in the engine bay.

The school board is looking for $38,449 to replace the corridor lockers at Salem School. Upcoming proposals include replacing the air conditioning units on the roof, the boilers and the roof itself.

In addition to discussing the capital plans, the finance board filled a full-term and alternate vacancies. Republican-endorsed Marshall Collins was voted to the full-term position, and Democrat-endorsed John Houchin was voted to one of the alternate seats. A second alternate seat cannot be filled until 30 days after Town Clerk Linda Flugrad receives the resignation letter of the departing member.

The board also voted unanimously to reinstate Butcher as chairman and George Householder as clerk. Householder was also nominated for the chairman position but declined the nomination to preserve the current leadership and continue balancing the budget.

a.hutchinson@theday.com

Twitter: @ahutch411