With $300,000 tucked away in their 2018 budget to facilitate construction of new ambulance stations in Humboldt and Moran, “I’d like for us to get started in the spring,” Allen County Commissioner Jerry Daniels said Tuesday morning.
New stations will replace ones that have been in place for several years, funded in some measure by the two cities. They are deemed inadequate, for several reasons.
Foremost, in Humboldt at least, is the size of the bay where an ambulance is poised day and night. Newer ambulances are larger and when all in Iola’s fleet — countywide service provider in agreement with the county — are in service, current satellite stations will be crowded or too small to accommodate the trucks.
“This has been in the works for several years,” Daniels added, pointing out “good facilities will improve morale” of emergency medical personnel and should expedite hiring.
Living quarters at the two outliers also are barely adequate, commissioners have noted on several occasions.
“We’re looking at properties and I have a couple in mind,” said Humboldt Administrator Cole Herder, though he did not give specifics. Ambulances in Humboldt and Moran often are first out for long-distance patient transfers and also deal with calls within those towns and nearby rural areas.
As for construction, Commissioner Tom Williams proposed metal buildings would be “good to look at. They’d be functional.”
As for working with the cities, Herder acknowledged Humboldt “will be easy to get along with,” in settling on a site and in work to bring a structure online.
Iolans who work daily with ambulances — Director Michael Burnett, Fire Chief Tim Thyer and City Administrator Sid Fleming — met with commissioners for an occasional report.
Burnett said runs to date numbered near 1,000, which was more than 2016 for the same period, but less than in 2015. Run statistics are at the mercy of events — iillness or accident — that generate patients.
Daniels asked if Burnett and his crew could track when the Humboldt ambulance was in station.”I often hear the Humboldt ambulance ‘is always gone,’ although I know that isn’t true” it would be good to have statistics for rebuttal. He asked for numbers on transfers and training sessions that took the Humboldt unit out of town: “also those for Moran,” said Commissioner Jim Talkington. “We can do that, also have the ones for Iola,” Fleming said.
Thyer said efforts were underway to attract two medics to replace ones who had been injured and were out of pocket for some time.
MITCH GARNER, director of Public Works, said he was awaiting bids and an insurance settlement so that a hangar at the county airport damaged during a spring storm could be repaired. The hanger is capable of storing six airplanes.
A new hangar is scheduled for 2018, if all preliminaries fall into place. Cost estimate, for all including an apron, is $375,000, Garner said.
Commissioner Williams is confident a new hangar will attract pilots wanting to store their planes. “Build it and they will come,” he said, borrowing a line from the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.”
Commissioners expect to settle their 2018 budget numbers at next Tuesday’s meeting, when Rodney Burns, their auditor, is available for comment.
Daniels urged his colleagues to consider a levy of 64 mills, two less than Burns has recommended. That would lower property tax collections by $282,000, played against a total more than $9 million.
That would be manageable, Daniels allowed.
A concern of Williams was whether that would have negative impact in the years ahead because of the legislative-imposed tax-dollar lid on local budgets.
Discussion is expected to come to a head when Burns is on board.
