City approves ambulance purchase
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 01:39 p.m., April 3, 2008
Updated 01:39 p.m., April 3, 2008
The city’s budget outlook for this year made it look like buying a new ambulance was something the Emporia City Commission would put off. But with buying one now looking like a much cheaper option than getting one later, commissioners decided to act at their meeting on Wednesday.
After a lengthy discussion involving commissioners, Fire Chief Jack Taylor, Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Beck and city Purchasing Agent Tim Frevert, the commission voted 5-0 to buy a 2009 Medtec ambulance. The county commission, which would share 50 percent of the $182,725 cost with the city, was to vote on the ambulance today. City Manager Matt Zimmerman said the county commission had indicated it would approve the purchase if the city did.
The city’s half of the cost, $91,362.50, is more than $6,000 lower than the $97,500 budgeted for the ambulance purchase. At a city work session last month, the stage appeared to be set for the city to reject the bid at Wednesday’s meeting and wait until 2009 to rebid.
But Beck appeared to eliminate most of the doubt commissioners had about acting now to the buy the ambulance when he brought up the issue of how much a 2010 model would cost next year. He said he had spoken to the ambulance dealer Wednesday morning.
“The 2010 model will be considerably more expensive,” Beck said. “She was targeting 210, 215 thousand (dollars), so there will be a considerable difference between going with the ’09 chassis and this bid. If she rebids it, it will probably be a 2010 chassis, with the increased cost reflected.”
After hearing that report, Commissioner Bob Agler said another factor to consider was that if the purchase was put off, there was no indication whether the county would have its half of the cost to spend at that time. He thought the ambulance was a good investment, “particularly with the news we just heard.”
After Commissioner Jim Kessler moved to approve the purchase, Mayor Julie Johnson expressed her approval of buying the ambulance.
“This is one of those difficult decisions,” she said. “But given the information we have about the possibility of increase in the next model chassis, and the bid that we did receive as compared to what we had budgeted, I think it’s really incumbent on us to go ahead and act on this at this time.”
The city will try to sell the light-duty ambulance the new medium-duty vehicle will be replacing. Zimmerman said there was a market for the old ambulance, which has 90,000 miles on it, and Taylor estimated that the city could get around $5,000 for it.
In other activity Wednesday, commissioners:
• Also on Wednesday, the commission approved a $5,000 raise for Zimmerman following what Johnson called a “thorough evaluation” of his work. Zimmerman will now make $120,000 per year beginning with the April 6 pay period.
• Approved a new contract with the Emporia Municipal Band in which the band agrees to play at least five concerts in Emporia city parks, with the city providing the band $7,500. Any concerts the band plays beyond those five will be dependent on donations from the community. Last year, the band received twice the amount from the city to play 10 concerts. Band president Dick Winter said the municipal band had already secured adequate community donations to play a total of 10 concerts again this summer, but he said more donations would still be needed to keep the band going.
• Approved the KLINK road resurfacing project for the city’s 2009-2010 fiscal year. The project will improve the intersections on US-50 at Prairie Street and Industrial Road, and those between Third Ave. and Sixth Ave. on Commercial Street. The project will cost the city a little more than $239,000 out of a total project cost of $412,590.80.
• Approved the acceptance of the $15,000 Community Capacity Building grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce. The grant will go toward Emporia Main Street’s Community Initiated Development drive, a part of Main Street’s Building Futures project.
• Awarded to Shown Construction a $50,395.34 project to relocate an existing water main abutting the east property line of Norfolk Iron and Metal on Penny Lane. At city staff’s recommendation, commissioners rejected proposed sewer and street projects on Penny Lane because of the uncertainty about the Renewable Energy Group plant being built in the area. REG put construction of its biodiesel plant on hold last month.
• Approved an ordinance setting the speed limit at 40 mph for the entire stretch on Industrial Road between 12th Ave. and Highway 50.
• Authorized Johnson to sign proclamations declaring April as Fair Housing Month, Child Abuse Awareness Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Emporia. Patty Gilligan, director of the Emporia Human Relations Commission, appeared on behalf of the fair housing proclamation. Lori Moore of SOS Inc. spoke on behalf of the child abuse and sexual assault awareness proclamations.
• Authorized Johnson to sign a proclamation declaring April 27 through May 3 as National Volunteer Week in Emporia. Cheryl Patton, director of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, spoke on behalf of the proclamation.
• Approved the reappointments of Janet Laurent and Jack Havenhill to four-year terms on the library board following the expiration of their current terms on April 30.
F Listened to Zimmerman’s report on city activities. Zimmerman told commissioners he’s negotiating a contract with an engineering firm to serve as the city engineer on a part-time basis until a permanent replacement for Keith Beatty is found. Beatty resigned as city engineer on March 10.
Comments
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Posted by jc1968 (anonymous) on April 3, 2008 at 2:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
New Commissioners, new City Manager same old story..... Once again the great city leaders are proving how not to lead by example. We are in a budget crisis with a freeze on pay raises. Once again the city commissioners have decided to reward the top man, Mr. Zimmerman with a token of appreaction, ($5000 dollar raise), while the people that are the work horses of the city are told they will recieve nothing. Way to lead by example. Mr. Zimmerman should have told the Commissioners, "Thank you, but I cannot accept this because we are in a pay freeze at this time." He would have shown he is a true leader by his actions. Shame on the commissioners for insulting the rest of the city employees. I would like to know who voted fore and against this raise when the election rolls around later this year. This stinks of the stuff that was going on when Commons was here.
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on April 3, 2008 at 4:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
what makes me do a double take even more so, is that we continue to see streets being redone with the KLINK stuff even though it was supposed to last much much longer if i remember correctly. i know these intersections are travelled heavily, but there are others that have just as much traffic which were redone much longer ago and have stood up to the wear and tear just fine.....
what steams me more is that they complain about the price of livesaving equipment like a new ambulance, then bid almost three times that much for two intersections.
is this just another chapter in the "west side comissioners story"??? or do they really need to be redone.
comissioners....make sure when you go downtown to your meetings, try going further east and north on your way to or from....there are neighborhoods east of downtown, although i'm sure you five haven't seen them in decades ...
i'll second JC's "shame shame" for the pay raise....what was that agler and longbine said about city employee pay raises?? "it may take quite some time to figure out how to fund them"...or was i mistaken?
Posted by create (anonymous) on April 3, 2008 at 5:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, according to the proclamations signed by the mayor, April is sexual assault awareness month. That pretty much sums it up -- a $5,000 pay raise for the head honcho and none for the city work horses.
Posted by Emergency1965 (anonymous) on April 3, 2008 at 7:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
HA! Theres plenty of reason to feel sexually assaulted here!
I'd like to know how we go from being conservative about the budget to full fledged spending? First it was beautifying the entrances, To buying a new backhoe for the landfill, Now an ambulance & raise for the C.M. Not even a month ago we were trying to figure out ways to cut the budget, But this is more like reckless abandonment. How did we get here & how did we all the sudden get the funds to do all these things.
I agree, There is a shame on someones shoulders. I also agree that the City should be lead by example. The City workers have a right to be upset & questioning how a raise can be given during a freeze. How is all this spending going on, But when it comes to the workers its always an excuse, Or worse yet just simply put off. At some point the powers that be need to realize that those workers that we all rely on are not as expendable as you think. Are the commissioners, c.m, or mayor going to show up in the dark hours of the morning because the basement is flooding with sewage, Or a water pipe has broken nearby? I'm afraid that if the workers keep getting ignored & pushed aside, There won't be anyone to provide those services. If you think that is impossible, A very good source tells me that the city receives very few qualified applicants for job postings. I wonder what the reasoning for that is? Could it be because they don't treat workers fairly, Menial pay, Questionable benefits, Or maybe being unappreciated? The city doesn't have a good reputation for taking care of their people, Unless you are lucky enough to have a management or administrative position.
Someday the people who are elected & hired to manage & make decisions for this city will wake up & see that you can't fix real problems with window dressings. You can't ignore a situation into going away. Hopefully I am around to see that day.
Posted by Cliffy (anonymous) on April 3, 2008 at 10:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The commission did the same thing time and again when Commons was CM. Pay raises for the powerful and nothing for the workers. Commons took his and so did Z Man. Now the commission sets prioities. Pay raises have to wait...oh, well of course not you Mr. Z. Also, riddle me this: Do you think anyone else working for the city will get a $5,000 @ year raise? How about the sanatation workers, the street department workers, Fire and Police...They might get 20 cents an hour. This commission should hide it's ugly head(s) in total shame. Where in the heck are we getting this money to study this and study that? Then, when the study says give the workers a pay raise, they give one ONLY to the City Manager. I agree, if Z man were a true leader, he would give the money back. Unless of course, he needs it for an oil change in his Jaguar!
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on April 4, 2008 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
oh, and don't forget who promoted the raise in salary and overwhelmingly approved it...the same commission who said we are in a budget crunch. the raise is for a "thorough evaluation" of his work....it didn't even say that he had done an exemplary job, or that he had "earned it" by swinging our city from almost a million dollars in the "commons red".....
how about all of the city employees who received "throrough evaluations" this year???? did they get a raise that was similar in percentage???
face it, the great leadership image that zimmerman seemed to be portraying for his first year in office just turned to "the same ole same ole"...and thanks once again commissioners for stepping on the people who REALLY make this city run.
Posted by proudpapa (anonymous) on April 4, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I believe the city manager has done a very good job since he has arrived and deserves the pay increase. But now the city commissioners better do the right thing when the city finishes slotting the city employees where they should be and fund the new wage scale fully and not over a couple of years. Whats right for the head honcho should be right for everyone.
Posted by toninj (anonymous) on April 4, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I too agree that Mr. Zimmerman has done a great job, and does not deserve the attacks that are going on here. I also have faith in the commission that I voted for that they will give raises that are deserved to city employees. There is not one person on the commission that I would not vote for again. I'm obviously not alone or they wouldn't be in the positions they are in!
Posted by admireed (anonymous) on April 4, 2008 at 12:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Give 'em a raise and lower the taxes. How does that happen? Will the mill levy be up 2-5% plus more sales taxes?
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on April 4, 2008 at 6:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
toni. all we are saying is that they seem up to their old ways again. things appeared to be going in the right direction and then when employees can't be given raises because of a mystery of where the funding would come from, they give zimmerman his extra. the commission seems to forget that they put back a bulk of money from the budget to at least partially fund the raises...where did that money go?
Posted by Emergency1965 (anonymous) on April 4, 2008 at 6:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dhcc66, Good question! Where did that money go? I wonder if that is what is funding some of the projects, Or possibly the equipment being purchased. That does raise an eyebrow doesn't it?
We didn't get here overnight. The problems in the city are mostly due to long term neglect. Of course none of it is going to disappear overnight either. I don't think there is one person who would disagree that the city had been lead down the wrong path for far to long. Those memories are still close to mind. The first year of Zimmerman's reign has went well right up until this stumble. But this stumble has reminded us how the city was for many years before him. Its for that reason that some are upset. It is much easier to bring up a comparison now before the ball gets rolling to far out of hand & cannot be stopped. We have a lot on our plates, There are problems with just about everything in the city & its time those problems are taken care of, Instead of neglected for a few more years. We don't need window dressings to cover up problems, We NEED real solutions to ELIMINATE the problems, Then move ahead.
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