The process to get new ambulances for Cole County took another step forward Tuesday as the County Commission authorized EMS Chief Eric Hoy to put out request for proposals to ambulance manufacturers/dealers.
At Tuesday's commission meeting, Hoy said the process started in October when they began their meetings with area manufactures and dealers to see what could be offered. They visited with three ambulance vendors -- American Response Vehicle of Columbia, Osage Ambulances in Linn and Pinnacle Emergency Vehicles out of Arkansas. Pinnacle represents Demers, the Canadian company with distributors in the United States; the county last purchased ambulances from Demers.
"We have test driven some of their prototypes and solicited input from our crews and now have an RFP ready to go," Hoy said. "This document has no input from manufacturers. It's a document that represents what we as a department want our ambulances to look like."
Hoy is requesting funding for three ambulances. Two will be a carry-over from the non-purchase of ambulances last year ($390,000 was budgeted for that in 2021). One ambulance would be purchased with money budgeted for this year.
Hoy said they would need to have $220,000-$280,000 for each of the new ambulances. Currently, the county uses van-style ambulances, which Hoy said cost $200,000-$250,000 each.
The biggest change they're proposing is a different style of chassis.
The current ambulances have a wheelbase of 158 inches and a module length of 170 inches. The module is where patients and EMS crew ride and where medical equipment is stored. The total length of the ambulance is 277 inches.
The proposed new ambulances would have a wheelbase of 193 inches and a module length of 172 inches. The total length of the ambulance would be 310 inches. The module would be mounted on a Ford 4X4 engine chassis.
"Switching from a van chassis to the truck chassis will provide us with 12-14 inches in additional length in the patient compartment," Hoy said. "That additional length, along with a more efficiently designed interior, will provide a large increase in usable space for ambulances crews providing patient care."
Hoy and EMS staff are not making any recommendations yet as to which vendor they believe would be best for the county.
"It's a public RFP so anybody who meets the qualifications to build emergency medical vehicles is welcome to bid on it," Hoy said. "It could be someone local or someone from outside our area."
Hoy said they will get the RFP out as soon as possible. It has to be open for companies to submit their proposals for 31 days.
Officials from the companies said it could take as long as a year before a new ambulance would be able to be delivered because of backlogs due to parts shortages.
In other business Tuesday, the commission chose to use the standard allowance of up to $10 million to help replace lost public revenue that's being allowed under guidelines from the federal American Rescue Plan for COVID-19 relief.
County Auditor Kristen Berhorst said she saw no downfall with choosing to go with this and neither did officials from BKD, the Springfield accounting firm the county hired to help guide it on how ARP funds can be used.
BKD officials said these funds can be used for anything the local government traditionally provided and could be used for COVID-19 public health and economic response.
"It helps our flexibility in where to spend the money," Western District Commissioner Harry Otto said.
In May, the county received $7.4 million in ARP funds for COVID-19 relief and is expected to get $7.5 million later this year to give them $14.9 million.
Already, the commission has approved $1.5 million of ARP funds be used to give premium pay to county staff who have to face hazards while working during the pandemic.
Along with using funds for premium pay and replacing lost public revenue, the final federal ARP guidance shows local governments can also use the monies to do water, sewer and broadband infrastructure projects.
See also:
Cole County Commission approves new district boundaries
Cole County Commission vacating portion of Murphy Ford Road