Norwich — Nearly 16 months after Norwich voters approved $3.2 million to purchase five new firetrucks, the City Council will consider a proposed moratorium on the future purchase of fire apparatuses until a needs analysis is done on the five volunteer and the city paid fire departments.

The three aldermen who serve on the Public Safety Committee submitted a resolution to be considered at Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. council meeting that initially called for hiring an outside consultant to conduct the fire apparatus needs analysis. But on Friday, committee Chairman Alderman William Nash, the council president pro tempore, proposed a change that instead would conduct the study in house.

The new language would have City Manager John Salomone work with fire chiefs from the five volunteer departments and newly appointed paid Fire Chief Tracy Montoya do the analysis, “including the number, deployment and the replacement schedule of existing fire apparatus.”

The council will take public comment on the resolution prior to the vote Tuesday.

The proposed resolution also states that “no contract or bid award for fire apparatus be authorized until the needs analysis of city service has been received and the recommendations reviewed by the City Council.” Nash said he plans to add that the council expects to receive the report in September.

The proposed study would not affect the five vehicles authorized by voters in November 2017, which already have been put out to bid and ordered.

But Alderman Joseph DeLucia, also a member of the Public Safety Committee, said requests for three apparatuses and two support vehicles have been submitted for the 2019-20 capital improvements budget. If the resolution is approved, there would be no fire vehicle purchases in the next capital budget.

“We want to know that we have a plan to move forward with,” DeLucia said. “The five firetrucks were a big expense, and the taxpayers want to know we have a plan going forward.”

The resolution cited a 1989 survey of Norwich fire services, the last outside consultant study done of the city fire service. The 30-year-old report often is cited as saying Norwich at the time had more fire apparatuses than the city of Boston.

“Whereas the 1989 Survey of Norwich Fire Service identifies both the imperative nature of an efficient and well-managed fire service, as well as a lack of coordination between the six fire departments, particularly in terms of apparatus purchases and response assignments,” the resolution to be considered Tuesday states.

Nash said his objection to conducting another outside study is simply the cost. He said the city’s six fire chiefs have the expertise to know what their departments need and the condition of their current vehicles.

“Instead of spending tens of thousands on a study, which we don’t have,” Nash said, “we have the experts here. Let’s hold their feet to the fire.”

The city used to have a replacement schedule for fire vehicles, but frequent cuts to the capital improvements budget disrupted the plan and led to the bonding referendum to replace aging vehicles.

“They’re not going to get a firetruck every year,” Nash said. “They may not get a firetruck every five years.”

Salomone said the study will be done in stages, starting with “a good solid inventory” of existing equipment and then an analysis of expected apparatus lifespans and what pieces need to be replaced, with a plan to find efficiencies. For example, Salomone said, the 2017 bond purchased two new firetrucks for the Taftville volunteer department that replaced three vehicles.

“I’m going to try to be very comprehensive with this,” Salomone said, “and work closely with each volunteer department and the city (department) to come up with a real comprehensive, long-range plan for the next 20 to 25 years.”

c.bessette@theday.com