City council approves new vehicles for public works and police department

EL DORADO — The city’s public works and police departments will be getting new vehicles this year, per a vote Thursday by the El Dorado City Council.

Aldermen relaxed a moratorium on capital purchases for 2017 to allow for the purchase of a new rear-loading garbage truck and a new police patrol unit.

The city council finance committee recommended the purchases after reviewing yearto-date numbers in the city budget.

The city instituted several cost-cutting measures to meet a $1 million revenue shortfall in the 2017 general fund.

One such measure was placing proposed 2017 capital improvements on hold, at least until about mid-year so aldermen could review budget trends.

The finance committee met on June 5 and learned that revenues are still flatlining.

However, the group agreed to take a closer look at the year-to-date numbers to see if the city could meet some of its capital improvement needs this year.

Police Chief Billy White told aldermen then that his department could use four new patrol units, but that two new units would satisfy the immediate needs of the department.

Robert Edmonds, director of public works, also told the committee that a new rear-loading garbage truck was needed for the sanitation department.

“The other day when we met, we talked about how the numbers are still down right now, so we’re still staying cautious until we can see where we’re going to be,” Alderman Dianne Hammond said Thursday.

Hammond, who heads up the finance committee, recommended the purchase of a new patrol unit and rear-loader for $32,000 and $210,000, respectively.

Committee said they would revisit the proposal for a second patrol unit in two or three months.

In 2015, the city purchased three new automated garbage trucks to help streamline the curbside collection process — and its costs — in residential areas.

Mayor Frank Hash said Thursday that the city is still using its old rear-loading trucks for commercial routes.

Edmonds said previously that the three trucks are 11 years old, each with more than 100,000 miles.

“The trucks are holding up relatively well, but the containers are deteriorating and constantly leaking,” Hash said Thursday.

Hammond explained that the patrol unit and rear-loader will be covered by the capital improvement budget and the sanitation budget, respectively.

Hash said the council will have to approve a budget adjustment later.

Hammond said it will take approximately four months for the rear-loader to go to bid, be ordered, and to arrive, noting that the patrol unit will come in sooner.

Ambulance rate increase

The council also passed a resolution to raise rates for the ambulance service provided by the El Dorado Fire Department.

Fire Chief Chad Mosby made the request during the June 5 finance committee meeting.

Hammond and Mosby previously said an insurance agent pointed out that the city’s ambulance service rates fell below state and national averages.

Mosby has also said the fire department is part of a joint program with Pro Med Ambulance, which serves Union County, to offer the same rates to citizens inside and outside city limits.

He said Pro Med’s rates are going up on July 1.

Additionally, the new rates are needed to help cover the rising costs of doing business, Mosby told aldermen on Thursday.

Rates for Advanced Life Support–Emergency 911 service will go from $575 to $950, and rates for ALS–non-911 service (such as transport to nursing/rehabilitation facilities) will be raised from $495 to $800.

Mileage rates will also increase from $13 to $15 per mile and will cover loaded miles.

“We can’t charge patients for miles en route to a home,” Mosby said.

Patients that are enrolled in the Priority Care membership program get an automatic 40 percent discount for ambulance service, he said.

The city’s ambulance rates were last raised nearly five years ago, Mosby said.

Mosby also thanked Teague Auto Group for reaching out to the fire department about a grant program offered by the National Automobile Dealers Association to purchase emergency services equipment.

Through the program,

the fire department was able to purchase an automatic external defibrillator, which is now a standard part of CPR training, Mosby said.

“That’s one piece of equipment that we didn’t have,” Mosby said.

He also said emergency medical technicians are undergoing STEMI (ST Elevation Myocardial Infraction) training to use equipment that will enable

EMTs to detect signs of a heart attack — a process that can speed up medical help.

“With the STEMI program, the goal is to get them to the ER and to the (cardiac team), so they can open up the blood vessels within 90 minutes,” Mosby said.

He noted that the fire department’s ambulance service was recently honored with a Bronze Plus award in the Mission: Lifeline program of the American Heart Association.

The El Dorado Fire Department and the Pro Med Ambulance service in Columbia County were the only two ambulance services in South Arkansas to be included in the pilot program, Mosby said.

“We met the qualifications for Gold, but you can’t get Gold the first year that you qualify,” Mosby said.