Commissioners look at options on potential ambulance purchase

The Kimball County Commissioners spent a lengthy amount of time discussing the best way to purchase an ambulance in a timely fashion at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.

After a discussion on the topic lasting almost an hour, the commissioners voted 2-0 to suspend normal purchasing procedures in order to buy an ambulance. Commissioners Larry Engstrom and Daria Anderson-Faden voted for the measure. Commissioner Tim Nolting left prior to the vote to attend an out of town meeting.

Under state law, commissioners are allowed to suspend normal purchasing procedures if there is an emergency or it will save the county a substantial amount of money. They voted Tuesday suspend the normal bidding process in order to save the county a substantial amount of money.

The commissioners tasked Carla Goranson, county ambulance coordinator, and Virgil Johnson to contact ambulance companies and inquire about the purchase of demonstration ambulances and look at any other possible avenue. They recently looked at a brand of ambulance currently in use in South Dakota.

The impetus to purchase an ambulance as quickly as possible is that new regulations could go into effect soon. Several regulations go into effect in some areas of the country on July 1 that make the cost of ambulances much heftier. Additional costly regulations are slated to become effective Jan. 1, 2016.

Nebraska has not yet adopted those regulations, but the state is expected to do so in the near future.

If the county purchases an ambulance and has it on hand prior to July 1, then it would likely be grandfathered in and not have to meet the new regulations. This likely makes the cost of the ambulance much lower. It is likely that there will be some leeway to the July 1 date, since it is expected that the state will not have adopted the regulations at that point.

Karen DeBoer thanked the commissioners for their help with the newly created extension educator position for Kimball and Banner counties. Erika Loy was hired for the now full-time position that serves as both extension educator and office manager.

“I think that your support and Banner County’s support was crucial in getting the whole thing,” DeBoer said.

DeBoer said one thing the state extension office looks at is local support, and said having someone additional to help locally is another positive thing for the Kimball/Banner County office.

“That is something the university is really keen on now, making sure that we have local support for the 4-H program,” she said.

Over time, DeBoer said staffing changes throughout the program statewide include a greater focus on having educators spend more time in their specific subject matters. This is already being done locally to a great degree, she added.

One challenge with the new combined position is making sure the office is staffed and open when Loy is out working as an educator, DeBoer said.

The commissioners also heard a presentation from Brenda Dahlstrom, a sales manager from GIS Workshop, LLC, at the meeting.

Dahlstrom said the company could provide aerial shots from various angles, instead of just overhead photos, on agriculture parcels with improvements. She said this would be helpful to the county assessor’s office in determining property value without having to set foot on some properties.

GIS Workshop only takes these type of photos for five counties per year in Nebraska. Dahlstrom said the company commits to only five counties per year due to the short time available to take photos in the spring and fall because of potential bad weather. The cost to the county would be $25,000.

The commissioners took no action after the presentation.

The commissioners also:

- Appointed Lou Gawith as a temporary shuttle coordinator until it can be decided how the position should permanently be filled.

- Reappointed Ken Mars to a three-year term on the Panhandle Public Health District Board, to run July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2018.