Grosse Pointe Shores to purchase new ambulance

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — It’ll be quite a while before it arrives, but the Grosse Pointe Shores Public Safety Department is getting a new ambulance.

The Shores City Council voted 6-1 at a meeting Aug. 20 to purchase a new ambulance from Kodiak Emergency Vehicles for $368,692. City Councilman John Dakmak cast the vote against the purchase.

It will replace an ambulance that has been in service since 2008. City Manager Stephen Poloni, a former Shores public safety director, said the current ambulance cost about $109,000 when the city acquired it 16 years ago.

Shores officials were originally told it would take up to 950 days — or a little over 2.5 years — to get a new ambulance. However, since the company that makes these vehicles has been sold, Poloni said the wait time has been reduced to a period of 14 to 18 months.

Public Safety Director Kenneth Werenski said his department had looked at upgrading the current ambulance by taking the “box” portion from the old one and mounting it onto a new Ford F-150 chassis. That would have cost the city $310,744.

“It wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be,” Werenski said of the price difference between refurbishing the old vehicle and buying a new one. That’s why Shores officials recommended just buying a new one, as it would have all the latest upgrades.

The new ambulance will be a custom Braun Chief XL on a Ford F-150 chassis.

“There’ll be all kinds of little improvements” from the current ambulance, Werenski said.

One of the biggest upgrades, Poloni said, is a powered cot that raises itself, eliminating lifting it onto the vehicle — a potential source of injury to officers, which is why Poloni called this feature “a workman’s comp dream.”

Besides providing police and fire services, the Shores is one of the rare public safety departments that also operates its own ambulance. All Shores officers are either emergency medical technicians or paramedics.

“It’s our most essential service,” Mayor Ted Kedzierski said.

While they wait for delivery of the new ambulance, Werenski said they can comfortably continue to use the one they have.

“It has passed the state inspections,” Werenski said. “It is running.”

Poloni said they plan to seek a buyer for the old ambulance. He said they’re hoping to get about $12,000 for it; they’ll be checking with their auctioneer to see what they might be able to get for it on the open market.

“It’s not going to go to (an emergency medical services) company,” Poloni said. “It’s probably going to end up as a work truck.”

He said that’s because the interior has multiple shelves.

Dakmak said he wasn’t prepared to spend that much on a new ambulance when the current one was still operational, saying he thought they could have waited to replace it.

“I’m not saying I want our services to falter or fail in any way,” Dakmak said. “It seems to me at this point in our budget it’s not the exact time to make that purchase.”

Poloni said they expect to be able to use the new ambulance for at least 15 years, “based on the way we take care of it.”