Heart monitor needed by ambulance

City officials were updated on the need for a heart monitor for the Ambulance Department at the regular City Council meeting Tuesday, April 16.

Capt. William Coker told he received two bids and the need for the new monitor is paramount.

Council members approved advertising for bids last month. Coker told city officials the company will finance the purchase.

City attorney Shane Perry said it is legal.

“Where’s the money going to come from?” Steve Guthrie, council member and member of the Fire Department, asked. “Without this monitor, the department will be shut down.”

Mayor Jackie Crabtree said he had a solution and that he and interim Fire Chief Dino Collins had met with “some guys from Mercy” who will lend a monitor to the city if it becomes necessary.

Collins requested permission to surplus a 2003 Ford Super duty F550 pickup truck on which the department is still making payments.

“We have another apparatus that is a perfectly functioning one,” Collins said. “The one I want to surplus, we still owe money on it. We can put a reserve on it. Then, we can use this other engine to replace it. If I sell this engine for what I think I can get out of it, the heart monitor question goes away.”

Collins said the department is paying $990 a month on the truck he wants to surplus. He said the 1976 the department owns is “still a good apparatus … everything works good on it.”

Guthrie made the motion to surplus the vehicle. Matt Ahart seconded the motion. Cody Keene, voting against the request, which was approved.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the rezoning of 1.8 acres at 224 W. Pickens Road from Residential 1 to Residential 2 multifamily with the emergency clause;

• Heard from the mayor that Jerry Burton resigned from the Planning Commission;

• Waived competitive bidding for purchase of material to pave Hazelton Road.