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WCCAD votes to collect bids on backup ambulance for First Responders By Kathryn Lucariello, CCN staff writerIn what might be the shortest Western Carroll County Ambulance District (WCCAD) meeting to date, the commission voted Friday to put out bids for a new ambulance for First Responders. The meeting lasted 45 minutes. Commissioners Fred Pierson and Bob McVey, absent Chairman Scott Link, cast the vote. Pierson and McVey said they would wait for Link to return from vacation to vote on the actual purchase of an ambulance. The unit is estimated to cost in the range of $75,000. The unit will answer the March request of the First Responders Alliance for a new or used ambulance for First Responders in the Beaver, Grassy Knob and Inspiration Point areas to use on calls to carry equipment too bulky for private automobiles. The plan calls for Holiday Island's current Basic Life Support (BLS) unit to be turned back over to WCCAD for use as a backup vehicle for those three departments. It will be housed at one of those fire stations. But before this plan can go through, it has to be approved by the Holiday Island Board of Commissioners, set to meet later this month. Holiday Island purchased that vehicle from WCCAD in 1992 when the district was discontinuing ambulance ownership. Over 2001 and 2002 WCCAD sold its ambulances to eliminate legal problems with the contracted provider, Eureka Springs, using them for Eureka Springs city calls. Eureka citizens do not pay the 2-mil Western District property tax to provide an ambulance service. Their service is covered by other taxes. McVey said Friday he wants to make it clear that WCCAD is "not going back into the ambulance ownership business or the leasing business." In other words, the district will not own Advanced Life Support (ALS) units. The contracted provider, Eureka, provides those. Since the First Responders are under the direction of WCCAD, however, the commission does equip them to assist the provider with quicker service. The new unit's specifications call for a solid box remount on a new chassis, which includes four-wheel drive. It will be licensed as a BLS unit and will serve as a backup vehicle for First Responders to arrive at calls before the Eureka Springs ambulance can get there. It will be stationed at Holiday Island, which has 47 percent of the medical calls in the ambulance district. In other business, WCCAD: The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 9, at 2 p.m. in the Holiday Island district office at 105 Woodsdale Drive. Council discusses expanding terms, stalls raises The Eureka Springs City Council is willing to consider a proposal to expand council terms to four years and to set staggered terms, but members want to wait until after the mid-year budget review to see if there is enough money to raise their salaries $3,600 per year. Five will be questioned about damage to plant The five persons directly involved in the destruction of the trickling filter at the Eureka Springs wastewater treatment plant will be subpoenaed and their stories taken under oath by staff members of the Carroll County Prosecutor's Office late this week. WCCAD votes to collect bids on backup ambulance for First Responders In what might be the shortest Western Carroll County Ambulance District (WCCAD) meeting to date, the commission voted Friday to put out bids for a new ambulance for First Responders. HIPC considers setback variance on a golf course lot How rigid is the rear setback requirement for Holiday Island homes built adjacent to a golf course? |