"phowen says:
Wow! Looks like your blog took off in grand style! I see that Mayor Allen stated the Ambulance Dept. costs the Village about $100,000.00 per year to operate. The Mayor told me some time ago that the cost was about $175,000.00 per year. My best guess with all the costs entered in is about $250,000.00 per year. We are talking some major variations between these posted amounts. I would like to see just what this Dept. costs the Village. When I read that if AMT were to be the Ambulance service, emergency response could take up to an hour. I was the guy who called AMT and spoke with Andrew Rand about the what if AMT was our Ambulance provider, what kind of service we could expect. AMT stated they have 3 Ambulances near Peoria Heights. One on Knoxville Ave. close to Glen Ave., one on N. Galena Road, and one at the Walgreens at War Dr. and Prospect. These 3 locations circle the Heights. AMT also stated that if they were the Ambulance provider for the Heights, they would put another full time unit in our Fire Station driveway at Village Hall! All this at no cost to the Village. This would provide service as fast or faster than our in house Ambulance service. Also AMT is now using advanced trained RN’s in their units. That is a step above ALS Techs! I am not picking on our Heights Ambulance service, I am just stating what is available in the local market. As a Trustee in this crazy down economy, I am just looking at any and all options we have. Revenue is down for the Village and the State painfully slow in getting our money to us. At some point in the future I feel the expense for this Ambulance Dept. may become too much to afford. The good Mayor and I could not disagree more on this subject and I stand alone with any other option than the existing program. And one more thing……….I offered to provide 3 gallons of paint to the Village to touch up the damage to the water tower done by vandals on the observation decks. I went to the tower with a Village official and brought my color chip books and found an exact match. I then mixed 3 gallons of 2 part commercial epoxy to donate to the Village. We thought the street dept. could simply apply the paint over the damage and save the Village a good deal of money vs. paying Geo. Young & Sons to do this work. The day I was to bring the paint to Village Hall I received an e-mail from the Village Administrator stating the Mayor thought this would be a total conflict of interest, and to keep my paint. I am allowed to polish the Lincoln bust, work the Tower Park Fest, but donating this paint would be a conflict. It’s only a conflict because the Mayor thinks so. signed, John Smith……no really….Scott Owen"
(SPECIAL NOTE: I have since been advised by our Street Superintendent that the members of the Street Department could not have applied the Trustee Owen supplied paint, even if it would not be considered a "conflict of interest." It appears that in order to maintain our paint warranty on the ENTIRE tower, any paint repairs we have will have to be done by a recognized paint supplier and applicator... namely, George Young & Sons.)
More importantly (I feel), is what I think would be needed in order to properly compare what AMT would reportedly offer (via what Trustee Owen posted), and what we presently offer in our own service. Following are the clarifications I have requested Trustee Owen to obtain for the Board of Trustees:
"Mark Allen says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Just to clarify, Scott, I think here is what we would need to compare “like to like” with AMT. You stated that you spoke with Andrew Rand of AMT and he guaranteed a vehicle to be parked at Village Hall, if the Village signed on with AMT. We need the following clarifications:
1. Would the vehicle be parked at Village Hall 24/7? Would it ONLY respond to Peoria Heights calls? At no cost to the Village?
2. Can there be a guarantee of a SECOND AMT vehicle to be parked in the Village somewhere, 24/7 as well, and responding ONLY to Heights emergency calls? A second one would be required, as we have two ambulances at our service now. Again, at NO cost to the Village?
3. Can this be guaranteed with a contract? And, will there be substantial monetary penalties, paid to the Village, if the AMT vehicle leaves the Village boundaries to respond to an emergency call outside of those same boundaries? I would say that a penalty of around $10,000.00 each time the AMT vehicle would leave the Village to attend to another call might keep them from doing so.
4. Can AMT sign a contract for at least 10 years with the Village, guaranteeing the above? And, would it compensate the Village for the costs of our ambulances, supplies, etc., should those be sold off if we no longer need them, if AMT chooses to alter their services after the 10 year contract is up? I’m guesstimating that the value of our vehicles, supplies, etc. would be in excess of $300,000-$400,000.00 at present.
If Andrew Rand and AMT can GUARANTEE CONTRACTUALLY ALL of the above, I believe the Board would love to discuss this with him.
If he cannot guarantee all of the above, then we are not comparing apples to apples. We are only comparing an apple core to the red delicious."
I've been accused of being the instigator of "The Silly Season," with the opposition just sitting on the sidelines during the last few elections, and being good soldiers. So, I'll try to keep my political posturing as issue-driven as possible. Again, I said that I will TRY.
I also advised Trustee Owen (through the blog, of course) that I do not recall ever telling him that I thought the ambulance service would cost us $175,000.00 per year. That doggoned blog has been hell on me, just over the last couple of days, for being called out on things I've supposedly said, months to years ago. I've misspoke on thousand of occasions, so anything is possible, but I normally throw out the $75,000-$100,000.00 figure on the overall cost of the ambulance service, per year. In the end, it really doesn't matter what I THINK it will cost, or what Trustee Owen THINKS it will cost... it only matters what it actually DOES cost. I'll try and get some mid-year figures together, as soon as possible, so that we all can have a better handle on the actual costs of this very necessary service.
