Council approves consent agenda, airport payment and $320,913 ambulance purchase

The Muscatine City Council approved its consent agenda on June 23, covering routine contracts, agreements and payments included in the meeting packet.

Key consent approvals included acceptance of completed taxi-lane work at Muscatine Municipal Airport and authorization of final payments totaling $27,919 to Hire Construction Inc.; approval to purchase necessary easements for West Hill sewer separation phase 6E (amount recorded on the agenda materials as $26,393.10); and a three-year agreement with Sterns, Conrad & Schmidt Consulting (SCS Engineers) for environmental and on-call services at the Muscatine County Sanitary Landfill. The city also approved a $9,160 proposal for a 2026 airspace analysis at the landfill and intergovernmental police field-training services with West Liberty.

Council authorized a $320,913 purchase order to Feld Fire for a new ambulance. Chief Hartman told the council the typical lead time for ambulance builds is about 14 months and said the department is transitioning from van-style to truck-style rigs to increase lifespan; he said another ambulance request is unlikely until fiscal year 2028–29. Council Member Gordon asked about the replacement cadence and Chief Hartman explained fleet lifecycle considerations.

Votes on these consent and procurement items were recorded as unanimous 'aye' for the members present; Council Member Osborne recused himself from a separate liquor-license vote due to a conflict of interest.

Next steps: staff will finalize contract documents, schedule payments and monitor ambulance delivery timelines as part of normal implementation and reporting processes to council.