by Alex Brooks
At a Special Meeting on Monday, September 8, the Petersburgh Town Board agreed to give the Petersburgh Ambulance a 5 year service agreement paying the squad $20,000 per year, so that they could use these funds to purchase a new ambulance. The motion was made subject to approval of the details of the service contract by Town Attorney Kevin Engel, who was not present. Councilpersons Dick Snyder and Amy Manchester were present, along with Supervisor Mason Hubbard, but Councilpersons Bill Seel and Ray Broadwell were not present.
Brandon deWaal and Adam Griswold spoke on behalf of the Ambulance Squad. They said they had contacted eight ambulance companies asking for proposals and they had received four bids. The lowest cost bid, from a company called Exceptional Emergency Vehicles, offered an ambulance to the Squad’s specifications, made by American Emergency Vehicles, for $136,000.
deWaal said the plan is to have the Ambulance Squad pay the down payment from money they have saved up over several years and make payments on the ambulance loan from the service contract funds. He said they would need a five year commitment from the Town before they could order the ambulance and they wanted to make sure it was discussed in time to get it into the 2009 budget.
Griswold said Town Attorney Kevin Engel had asked him to look into what it would cost if the Town relied on a paid ambulance service coming out of the western part of the county. He said a commercial ambulance service charges about $1,500 per call. Since the Petersburgh Ambulance makes about 80 calls in a year, that would add up to about $120,000 in a year.