For the second time this month, Brookfield emergency medical technicians and paramedics received a pay raise.

Trustees raised wages Monday night by 25 cents an hour, the same increase they approved on Feb. 3. Trustee Phil Schmidt said the raises put paramedics at $9.50 an hour and EMTs at $7.50.

Earlier this month, Fire Chief Keith Barrett said the raises were three years overdue, adding that other townships are more competitive because they offer higher salaries.

At the time, trustees raised wages by 25 cents and agreed to reopen the issue in six months. However that plan "didn't work out well," Schmidt said.

Another raise was imperative now, he said.

"We were going to lose people necessary to our operation," he said. "We gave it another quarter (Monday night) to be competitive. We're still below what the other townships are paying."

Trustees also opened bids Monday night for a new ladder truck and emergency rescue/fire engine.

The township received three bids for the 75-foot aerial ladder truck and four bids for the emergency rescue pumper. Pierce Appleton and Seagraves, both of Wisconsin, submitted bids on the ladder truck and the rescue pumper. KME of Pennsylvania bid only on the ladder truck.

Trustees expect to award contracts March 3.