Being a stickler for details can sometimes derail the goal.
Such is the case for Allen County commissioners who on Tuesday turned down the chance at a $350,000 ambulance because of a requisite $17,500 buy-in by the county.
Corey Isbell, Iola Fire Chief and interim EMS director since May, presented commissioners with the federal grant proposal at their meeting.
Commissioners appeared receptive until Isbell noted that because the Iola Fire Department is the applicant for the Assistance to Firefighters grant, the city would own the vehicle.
No doing, said David Lee, chairman of the county commission.
“If the county does not end up with it at the end of the day … then let the city pay that sum,” he said.
Fellow commissioners John Brocker and Jerry Daniels fell in line with Lee’s summation.
THIS IS WHEN we wonder if a weekend fundraiser could come to the rescue.
The Emergency Medical Services agreement between Iola and Allen County states that the county is obligated to purchase the necessary vehicles and Iola crews maintain and operate them.
The county currently owns five ambulances. Two are stationed in Iola, two in Humboldt, and one in Moran.
The oldest, a 2016 model with 300,000 miles, is in Iola.
“I’ve been looking to replace that one,” Isbell said. “But it’s not like you can go to a car lot and pick one out.”
Instead, it’s typically a two-year process where the vehicles are tailor-made to a department’s specifications. And yes, the price tag is hefty.
“We’re always being asked to look for other funding avenues,” Isbell said Tuesday afternoon, hours after the county commission meeting.
So Isbell perked up when Thrive Allen County grant writer Vickie Moss called to say a federal grant for firefighters was available.
At Tuesday’s commission meeting, Moss told commissioners federal agencies had recently released a flood of grants.
