Sheriff's department to get old ambulance (03/17/2009)

An aging ambulance is still worth more to the county than the $7,500 they could get for it by trading it in.

"We could use that ambulance for an emergency response vehicle," said Sheriff Ray Newton to the Jay County Commissioners Monday afternoon. "We've been looking for a vehicle but it's hard to find an ambulance."

While Jay County Emergency Medical Services is looking to purchase a new ambulance, county police are eyeing the older version for its own uses. Newton plans to use the old ambulance, which has nearly 100,000 miles on it, as a vehicle for the county's high-risk entry team.

Now, when the team is called into the field, the sheriff's department has to take gear from storage and load it into vehicles. With the ambulance, that gear could be left in the ambulance box, which would create quicker response times as well as would free up some storage space for the department.

"It'd probably serve us more good than the $7,000," said commissioner Milo Miller Jr. of the offered $7,500 trade-in value presented last week by JEMS.

"It's got some miles on it, but you're not going to be putting many on it," said commissioner Faron Parr. Newton said the high-risk team was called out around six times in 2008.

JEMS director Teresa Foster-Geesaman came by later to discuss bids for new ambulances and said she had spoken with Newton and had no qualms about giving the ambulance to the sheriff's department.

"I don't have a problem with it," Miller said.

Bids for a new ambulance will be advertised in the near future and opened in late April, meaning the vehicles could trade hands by the beginning of May.

In other business Monday, the commissioners:

•Signed an ordinance adding a $200 fee for appeals to the Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals. The fee was originally included in the zoning and planning fee schedule but was removed after no cases had come up.

After an appeal in October, the first such in 11 years, Jay/Portland Building and Planning director Bill Milligan asked for the fee to be added back in.

•Spoke with highway superintendent Ken Wellman and Jay County Surveyor Brad Daniels about a project to mark cornerstones, or survey markers, with a high-tech system.

Wellman received notice that Global Positioning System boxes were going to be installed in the roads and wanted to know if he would need to repair the pavement.

When operational, those surveying property will be able to access the cornerstones as reference points more quickly and more accurately.

Daniels and the commissioners updated Wellman on the GPS cornerstone project. Daniels would also return to the commissioners with prices on the GPS boxes before installation begins.

•Held a pre-bid inspection for the demolition of the former car dealership at Ship and Main streets, the site of the Jay County Jail expansion.

The commissioners answered questions from about 10 potential bidders as they did a walkthrough of the building. Bids will be opened on March 30 and demolition can begin as soon as April 9.[[In-content Ad]]