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Village board authorizes staff to bid on surplus ambulance, sets maximum
Summary
The Owego village board authorized the village to place a bid on a used ambulance and set a not-to-exceed amount to be determined by staff and the board; discussion covered call volumes, refurbishment budgets and payoff timeframe.
The Owego Village Board voted to authorize staff to place a bid through the surplus/SE process for a used ambulance and set a maximum price for the purchase.
The board’s EMS department reported operational figures as context for the request, saying the department had 121 calls in August and 60 calls through Sept. 17. The EMS representative told the board four membership applications were before them and noted recent maintenance and mileage differences among the fleet. “We’ve had 121 calls for the month of August… 60 calls through September 17,” the department speaker reported.
Board members and staff discussed tradeoffs in buying a lower-mileage vehicle now versus refurbishing existing ambulances. They highlighted the cost of an automatic stretcher — noted in the meeting as about $63,000 — and said refurbishment budgets already include money for current chassis work. One board member said the department would need roughly 200–300 additional calls from a new prime ambulance to recover the purchase cost through added revenue, and that the vehicle would serve as the prime unit while others were refurbished.
During deliberations, Allen moved to “approve the ambulance up to this number through the SE bid process.” The motion was seconded and members discussed the importance of setting a firm limit so bids would not exceed the board’s risk tolerance and so staff would know the posting deadline and conditions.
The vote passed with affirmative board votes recorded on the meeting audio; members emphasized that any purchase would be within the board-approved maximum and would be folded into the department’s planned refurbishment schedule.
The board did not detail a final dollar figure in the public motion text; minutes indicate members intended to finalize an exact cap in coordination with the mayor and department head before the bid deadline. The motion gives the EMS department authority to submit a surplus bid subject to that board-established cap.
