Houlton council ponders ambulance speed

HOULTON – A request by Fire Chief Milton Cone to amend a bid for an ambulance already accepted by the Town Council stirred debate among members, prompting some to ponder just how fast an ambulance ought to go.

By the time discussion ended Monday, councilors agreed to allow Cone to buy a 2003 Ford ambulance with an estimated top speed of 90 mph.

Cone asked the council to rescind an order made in June. The council had accepted a bid from Autotronics of Madawaska for a three-year lease-purchase of a 2003 GMC ambulance. The purchase amount was not to exceed $33,845 per year.

“When the council voted to accept the bid, we ordered the ambulance the next day,” Cone said. “But then we were told that there were manufacturing problems with the vehicle. There were problems with the manufacturing of the chassis at the factory. It had brake problems, and a few more things. It was out of Autotronics’ hands.”

By the time problems with the GMC ambulance were corrected, personnel from Autotronics had driven the vehicle and informed Cone that the ambulance would not run past 75 mph.

“And this is 75 miles per hour on level ground,” Cone said. “So the speed would decrease going up a hill. We found that speed to be unacceptable.”

At that point, Cone requested that the council rescind its earlier order and instead allow the ambulance department to buy a 2003 Ford from Autotronics at a lower price, which would not exceed $30,592 per year under a three-year lease-purchase contract.

Though all councilors seemed satisfied with the price, some questioned Cone about the need to drive an ambulance at more than 75 mph.

“Seventy-five miles per hour seems pretty fast on a highway [Interstate 95] with a speed limit of 65 miles per hour,” said Councilor Phil Bernaiche.

“Seventy-five miles per hour blows my mind,” Councilor Gerald Adams said. “The speed doesn’t do you any good if the ambulance goes off the road. Do all ambulances go that fast?”

While Cone explained that the ambulance would never go that fast around town, the ambulance department’s vast coverage area and frequent need to rush critically ill and injured patients to hospitals in Bangor necessitate a high-speed ambulance.

“When you have a patient that is in stable condition, going that fast is not an issue,” Cone said. “But when you’ve got a critically injured patient in an ambulance with a paramedic, a nurse and possibly a doctor, and they’re telling you to get to Eastern Maine Medical Center as fast as you can, you need to go as fast as safely possible.”

Cone told the council that the ambulance department’s other two units, with top speeds of 85 mph and 93 mph, are being taxed by the manufacturing holdup.

“The unit that we are trying to replace has over 217,000 miles on it, so we are having to use our other two units more to compensate for this,” Cone said. “That is adding more mileage to those vehicles.”

The money to buy the vehicle will come from the ambulance reserve account, Town Manager Peggy Daigle explained. The account has reserves of $100,000.

The fiscal logistics of the decision irked Bernaiche.

“If we have $100,000 in that account, why didn’t we just buy the vehicle instead of accruing interest over three years?” Bernaiche asked. “You guys don’t believe in just buying something if you have the money.”

Councilors voted unanimously to buy the Ford ambulance.

In other business, councilors appointed Houlton resident Glenn Miller to the SAD 29 school board.

Miller will fill the position vacated by the resignation of Vicki Goodwin until the next municipal election in November.