By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
The regular meeting of the Panora City Council on Jan. 26 was led by Brian Dorsett in Mayor Curt Thornberry’s absence.
Paramedic and maintenance supervisor Alex Olson addressed the council regarding possible action on the 2010 PL Custom E450 ambulance vehicle, which he said is only a secondary vehicle and is rarely used.
“It had some very large mechanical issues a couple of years ago,” Olson said. “Since then, we’ve added everything up since we fixed it that time. We’ve put another 36 (thousand dollars) into it, and it’s been used on maybe three calls in the last four years.”
Olson also said the crew doesn’t have enough staff to realistically use this backup vehicle on any regular basis, and he described its current status as “a glorified paper weight.” Olson suggested selling the vehicle but keeping any usable equipment from it. He and John Delavergne estimated the department would save nearly $5,000 in annual costs if the vehicle was sold.
The council voted to sell the ambulance.
In other news, City Administrator Lisa Grossman described a situation involving apartments in town that have the water shut offs inside the individual apartments, which creates a challenge if the city needs to turn water off for unpaid bills. She summarized the city’s options in such cases. After discussion, the council chose to table to matter to allow time to look into the best solution.
The next regular meeting is set for Monday, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m. The public is welcome. Interested persons may attend in person or electronically by visiting the website https://meet.goto.com/cityofpanora or by phone 1-312-757-3121 (Access Code 295-099-701, Audio PIN 220#).