County picks gas engine for ambulance

After 23 years of diesel engines, the county is going back to gasoline when it purchases a new ambulance chassis.
The Jay County Commissioners decided to save money and opted to purchase a new Ford E-450 ambulance chassis with a gasoline engine from LifeStar at a cost of $83,300.
The county switched to diesel engines in 1988, according to Jay Emergency Medical Service director Teresa Foster-Geesaman, but the commissioners and Foster-Geesaman decided Monday that approximately $33,000 in savings was enough to give a gas engine another chance. The current fleet of ambulances is all diesel engines.
“I don’t remember why we went diesel,” Foster-Geesaman said.
Commissioner Milo Miller Jr. said he recalled the decision being made because of the longevity of a diesel engine compared to a gasoline engine.
But commissioner Faron Parr was swayed by the price difference and said the county could at least try the gasoline engine again.
“That’s a good savings,” he noted compared to the diesel engine. “And if you don’t like it, we can get rid of it (in the future) and get a diesel.”
Foster-Geesaman said if money wasn’t an issue, she would prefer to stick with the diesel, but that the savings compared to the $106,435 Chevrolet G4500 diesel looked too good to pass up.
“If I had to choose and it didn’t matter money-wise, I’d say the Chevy,” she said. “But that’s a lot of money.”
The $83,300 includes both the chassis and the cost to refit the county’s ambulance box onto it.
Foster-Geesaman said delivery of the outfitted ambulance should be 90 to 120 days.
In other business Monday, the commissioners:
•Opened annual highway bids for asphalt. The commissioners accepted bids received from Shelly International, Meshberger Brothers, Marathon, Terry, Asphalt Materials, and Klink Group of Companies.[[In-content Ad]]