BUCYRUS — Members of the Bucyrus City Council Health and Safety Committee had a special meeting Tuesday evening to discuss EMS and COVID-19 safety services.
At the meeting, two grants were on the table for discussion—a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for the purchase of a new ambulance, and an AFG SAFER grant for fire department staffing.
The city has been exploring leaving the Central Joint Ambulance District and providing its own EMS service for several years, and purchase of an additional ambulance would put them one step closer to that goal. The city currently owns a 2010 ambulance with almost 75,000 miles on it. The USDA would cover 35 percent of the cost of purchasing the ambulance and finance the rest over the useful life expectancy of the vehicle. Should the city apply for and receive the grant, the first payment will not be due until next year.
Council member Kevin Myers estimates that should the city apply for and receive the grant this year, it could save taxpayers $70,000-$100,000 over the lifetime of the vehicle.
If Bucyrus leaves the Central Joint Ambulance District and buys a second ambulance, that could prove beneficial in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. If Bucyrus’ ambulance were to transport someone with the virus or someone suspected of having the virus, it would take as long as 90 minutes to be able to have that ambulance operational again because it can take as many as 30 minutes to disinfect the ambulance and that the ambulance should be aired out for 30 minutes both before and after disinfecting, according to guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control.
With another ambulance, should that happen, there would still be an ambulance in commission to go out on a call.
The AFG SAFER grant, should the city leave the Central Joint Ambulance District, would prove even more beneficial in hiring six more firefighters that are paramedics. There are currently only four firefighters assigned to each shift and with this grant that will allow for six more to be hired, and it would increase the manning to six on duty per shift.
There currently is a study being done by former Cincinnati fire chief William Kramer on the level of staffing needed at Bucyrus. No official results have been turned in yet, but Kramer agrees that with Bucyrus’ run volume and community size that six firefighters on duty would work well.
The SAFER grant pays 75 percent of the new firefighter salaries during the first two years, and 35 percent in year three. The grant is a three-year grant, and after the three years, the city will assume 100 percent responsibility of paying for the firefighters’ salaries.
“I think that the money that we would be spending to employ those additional six, would cost less than the money we would spend to stay with the ambulance district subsidy, when the money is offset by the money we would make by doing our own transports,” Myers said.
Myers estimated that during the period of the two grants, the grants would be saving Bucyrus taxpayers almost $1 million in firefighters salaries.
There was no action taken at the meeting as councilmembers Bruce Truka and Mark Makeever both would like to see more numbers relating to these grants and the budget before a decision is made.
“I agree with Bruce that we need the facts in order to back this up and move forward with what will work for us that we can have Joyce show us what we can or can’t afford by the current status of our income, which we are greatly hurting right now,” Makeever said. “I believe that we’ve got to move forward—we can’t wait and get stuck with decisions by the ambulance district with a 15-1 vote against us, and we get stuck with something that isn’t going to work for us. We’ve got to be ready to move forward and take care of ourselves first and then move on to possibly helping the adjoining townships so that they’re all protected also.”
With no decision being made on whether the city should apply for these grants, the decision on where the money is coming from also hasn’t been made, though a slight raise on property or income taxes was suggested.
Council hopes to have a decision on these grants soon, as the deadline for the SAFER grant is May 15 at 5 p.m.