What a bummer! Unfortunately, the only thing I agree with the president on is that STL is cheap. Also, this is a clear example of an issue that too many VFD's/VFC's face: civil officers in the dept (ie fire co. President or VP) not letting the line/operational officers make decisions that affect daily operations. Working in conjunction with line officers on the budget/expenditures is one thing, but IMHO they should have no say in vehicle specifications & safety. Personally, I almost kicked the crap out of the president of the board at my former VFD b/c she established command of a call just before I (the duty officer) arrived. Unfortunately, we still see it in my career dept, but it's not totally as bad since the city managers don't come by the fire stations much (they just hide in their offices and bother us via email or deny all requests via email lol)
What are they gonna use the rear of the $35K for? Based on what you told is so far, that's a boatload of money for them.
Also, I'm not familiar with ESD's...I'm guessing its a Texas thing but hopefully someone will elaborate.
All I know is that, as old/used as that international truck may be, it'll hands down outlast every single STL LED that goes on it; IMO, STL stands for STRAIGHT TRASH LEDs (inc.)