HELEN, Ga. — Helen City Manager Jerry Elkins had high praise for Fire Chief Jody Prickett during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

“You’ve improved a department that was in bad shape and we certainly appreciate that,” Elkins said.

When Prickett was hired in Sept. 2015, the fire department had only one full-time firefighter and three part-time employees. With Prickett’s guidance, the fire department now has seven part-time employees and seven volunteer firefighters and can provide round-the-clock protection.

But the council also expressed its gratitude for Prickett’s services in a more tangible way, presenting the fire department with a new Ford F-150 pickup truck purchased from Mike Jones Ford in Eastanollee. They presented the new vehicle when Prickett arrived for Tuesday’s meeting.

The truck replaces a 20-year-old Ford Bronco and is the first new pickup truck purchased for Helen Fire Department.

And there is another improvement in store for the fire department. The commission adopted a resolution utilizing a lease purchase of a new fire truck from the Georgia Municipal Association’s financial services program. The new fire engine, approved recently by the commission, is an HME Ahrens-Fox and will cost $406,802.

In other business, the commission the decision on a proposal by Donna Burke to decorate the city for fall and Christmas 2017, approved a second reading of an ordinance to amend the cities personnel policies and procedures.