EMS agreement, museum on Board of Directors’ agenda
After three weeks off from regular meetings, Siloam Springs’ Board of Directors will reconvene on Feb. 7 to discuss three items. All three fall under the heading of “contracts and approvals.” The meeting will be preceded by a 45 minute workshop on the Siloam Springs Museum, according to the agenda.
First is the 2017 emergency services contract with Benton County. Coming one week after a similar deal was approved for Gentry, the proposed deal is for Siloam Springs emergency medical services to cover approximately 147 square miles of unincorporated Benton County area.
If the agreement is approved, the county will pay Siloam Springs $444,224.28 for the year of service, up from $437,243.96 in 2016. The raise comes after the city’s 497 responses over the last year mark an all-time high in responses to Benton County since the agreement began in 2012.
According to the Benton County Administrator of Public Safety, the County has already budgeted for the agreement, and the County Judge has agreed to sign the agreement, once passed by the Siloam Springs Board of Directors, the staff report said.
Next on the agenda is a budget amendment request to add $7,500 to EMS upgrades. The money requested would be spent to purchase an oxygen generating system that will replace the supplier that city emergency services rely on currently.
The generating system is estimated to have a 15-year lifespan, and will give the city a savings of approximately $99,155 over that period, when accounting for a $250 annual service contract to
maintain the generator, according to the staff report.
The final item on the agenda is a purchase request for a mini excavator from the Infrastructure Division of the city. The excavator would join another excavator in the street department. Currently, when both divisions have need of an excavator, the infrastructure division has to borrow the electric department’s excavator.
The excavator would come from Springdale Tractor and cost $79,803.58, just under the budgeted amount of $80,000.
This week, the city will be testing their new broadcasting channel. Anyone interested in viewing future meetings will be able to do so through the city’s chosen new broadcasting service, Granicus.
Meetings will be stored on Granicus servers and linked to the city website, said City Communication Manager Holland Hayden. Meetings have not been broadcast since city hall was struck by lightning late last year.