During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Pettis County Ambulance District Board of Directors is now considering purchasing a new ambulance and putting two older ambulances into a spare rotation.
PCAD Administrator Mike Gardner spoke to the board about the need for a new ambulance. This is a planned purchase, he said, and he wanted to get the board’s opinion on switching to a new company to build the vehicle. PCAD has bought all seven of its current ambulances from Osage Ambulances, out of Linn, Mo.,
“Osage has been a good company to purchase from but we’ve had several issues come up over the past year or so that worry me,” Gardner said. “American Emergency Vehicles (AEV) has a reputation for making a good, reliable ambulance with better technology and a better configuration.”
AEV is based in North Carolina, however PCAD would be able to get its ambulances serviced through a Columbia-based service location. AEV would also have the new ambulance delivered in about 120 days, compared to 300 days from Osage. Gardner had bids from both companies to consider during Tuesday’s meeting, but the bid price included trading in two older ambulances.
“I’ve been really thinking a lot about the best way to do this and I think we should keep those two other ambulances,” he told the board. “Right now we just have ‘Old Blue’ as a spare in case one of the other ambulances needs repairs.”
“Old Blue” is the nickname for the oldest PCAD ambulance, which was the first purchased. Gardner proposed keeping the other two ambulances to be put into the spare rotation and eventually sell “Old Blue.”
The board decided to table the issue until proposals from Osage Ambulances and AEV could be re-bid without including the trade-ins.