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By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

Ellis County Emergency Medical Services will add two new ambulances to its fleet in the next two years after the county commission approved the purchase of the ambulances from Osage Ambulance in Jefferson City, Mo., on Monday.

The ambulances will replace two others with more than 150,000 miles.

Health Services Director Kerry McCue said his department has delayed buying new ambulances in an effort to save money but those need to be replaced.

“Our fleet, currently of seven ambulances, has almost half of those vehicles (with) over 100,000 miles, so we’re trying to get as much mileage out of each vehicle as we can,” McCue said.

One of the ambulances, a 2003 Ford, was scheduled to be replaced in 2013 and the second, a 2010 Chevy, was scheduled to be replaced in 2018. Both scheduled replacements were delayed in an effort to save the county money.

“We have moved those back to get more mileage and more use out of those vehicles,” McCue said. “We’ve gone to really the end of those vehicles’ useful life.”

McCue said ambulances experience a lot of wear and tear.

“While they have 150,000 miles on them, you pretty much have to double that mileage in the fact that they sit and idle for extended periods of time,” McCue said.

The commission approved the bid from Osage Ambulance for $373,080 for the two ambulances.

The first ambulance was used as a demo and will be fitted to meet Ellis County needs and be ready in mid-August. The second ambulance will be built and delivered in 2020.

Both purchases were planned replacements through the county’s capital improvement plan.

McCue said the next scheduled ambulance replacement is 2021 but currently the capital improvement plan funds “are going to be tight.”

In past years, the commission has reduced the amount of money transferred into the capital improvement fund as a way to save money, but Commissioner Butch Schlyer warned against that.

“We have to make those transfers so we keep up-to-date on capital (improvements),” Schlyer said.