The merger that puts Iola in charge of countywide ambulance service is close to clearing its last hurdle of significance. IN OTHER NEWS, commissioners:
Allen County commissioners agreed to terms of a lease agreement Tuesday morning that would have the city pay $250 a month for use of the county’s ambulance station in the 400 block of North State Street.
However, while city council members looked at the lease agreement Monday night, just hours after it was given to Administrator Carl Slaugh, they have yet to agree to the monthly payment, Assistant City Administrator Cory Schinstock told the Register.
Meanwhile, County Counselor Alan Weber told commissioners he structured the agreement so that it had no appearance of the county subsidizing Iola’s fire department, which was a concern to some.
The document calls for the county building to house a central depot for ambulance supplies, as well as office space for emergency medical services. The 3,000-gallon tanker, acquired jointly by Allen County and Iola several years ago as a water source for firefighting throughout the county, and a hazardous materials response trailer, also used throughout the county, likely will be parked in the building.
Two ambulances and a utility vehicle will be dispatched from Iola’s fire station. Ambulances also will be on duty 24 hours a day in Humboldt and Moran.
Ryan Sell, the merged services’ director, said all ambulances would roll as type I units, meaning they will have a paramedic aboard. The utility vehicle will support and often arrive ahead of ambulances.
He noted that a first responder aboard the utility vehicle could be on scene five to 10 minutes ahead of an ambulance, and if the responder found transport or more advanced medical services were not necessary, ambulance runs could be aborted or slowed to runs without emergency signals.
That would be a safety advantage, noted Commissioner Tom Williams, by not having an ambulance run “hot” — with siren and emergency lights engaged — when it wasn’t necessary.
A first responder with the utility vehicle will be an important adjunct when calls come from Humboldt or Moran when the local ambulance is out of town for a transfer.
Michael Burnett, county director, said the switch-over was “going great.”
Sell said county supervisors would began operating under the city’s schedule on and after Dec. 1, while all other county personnel would move to the city schedule the last week of December.
— Approved refinancing $1.7 million in outstanding revenue bonds for the law enforcement center’s construction and equipping, which will cut the interest rate from a little over 4 percent of 2.64 percent. Net savings in interest costs over the remaining nine years of the issue will be about $80,000.
— Acquiesced to a request from Allied Hospital Services to hire only “friends and family” of hospital employees to help with the move to the new Allen County Regional Hospital. Those hired — 15 or 20 — will be paid $9 an hour from Dec. 3 to about Dec. 13. An email announcing job interviews Dec. 2 at the Super 8 motel, including the restriction on candidates, was sent to commissioners and hospital trustees. A recipient made it available to the Register. The email’s content was mentioned by Commissioner Jim Talkington Tuesday morning.
— Learned that LaHarpe Rural Volunteers will erect a four-bay building costing $46,000 at Seventh and Main streets in LaHarpe, to replace an older building that hasn’t been adequate for years. Weber said with completion, trucks and other equipment would be kept in the building, out of the weather and beyond the reach of vandals. The volunteers answer rural calls in the LaHarpe area and Deer Creek Township.
Last hurdle to merger at hand
