After delivery delays, next city ambulance could be used vehicle

LACONIA — City councilors are asking for public input on the purchase of a used ambulance in good shape to fill a gap in the fire department’s capacity.

Councilors set a public hearing for Dec. 8 on the matter, during their meeting on Monday night.

The purchase is not to exceed $55,000, a bargain when juxtaposed with the cost of a new ambulance, which can run in the range of $120,000 to $300,000, or higher.

A previous combination of city councilors approved the purchase of two new ambulances, but supply chain issues have resulted in manufacturing delays much more severe than firefighters have seen in recent decades. The first of those new ambulances is not expected to be received by the city until April 2026.

“I would remind the council that the new ambulances combined cost us close to $1 million,” Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney said, “$55,000 seems like a real bargain to me.”

The funds will be raised and appropriated from the city’s internal service fund, with $29,400 transferred from the fire department’s impact fee account, and the $25,600 in remainder provided by the internal service fee account. Every city department which operates vehicles pays a sum into that account, which helps fund the repair and replacement of municipal vehicles. The police, fire and public works departments are the heaviest users.

The internal service fund balance will be reimbursed by the fire department impact fee account as revenues become available.

“I don’t want to get into the habit of replacing vehicles mid-year so, as [the fire chief] and I have talked about, he’s going to pay with whatever he can out of impact fees, we’ll pick up the difference in the internal service fund. But his impact fees moving forward are going to replenish what he took out of that,” City Manager Kirk Beattie said.

Until the two new vehicles are received by the department, they’ll supplement their fleet with the used ones. After the new ambulances are received, they’ll retain the pre-owned ambulance for emergency purposes, ensuring they’re not short an ambulance in the future. Fire Chief Tim Joubert said the city needs to have three ambulances operational at all times.

“We have purchased two new ambulances that are in production. Unfortunately, their production delivery dates are delayed, and we’re sort of at the mercy of the manufacturers and the dealerships. And it’s something that the fire service in general is trying to figure out and deal with,” Joubert said Monday night. “It’s been very, very challenging.”

Firefighters were hoping the existing fleet of ambulances would last until the new rigs are delivered, but it’s unlikely. They’ve got one that goes out of service at least once a week, and two others are old and have frequent issues.

The new-used ambulance has 40,000 miles on it and comes with the radios, lights, the stretcher in the back, and the load system already installed. It's a 2014 International.

“It’s pretty much plug-and-play, that stretcher and load system by itself is valued at around $30,000. The only thing we have to do is swap the numbers on the ambulance, and we’ll be operational at that point in time,” Joubert said. “My biggest fear is that we’re going to have a catastrophic failure in one of those ambulances, and the city needs to have three ambulances in service at all times.”

While waiting for the delivery of the two new ambulances, Joubert said they’d set the ambulance with the most concerns aside as essentially a backup for serious emergencies, and run the three “most-ready” ambulances for daily services.

“Ambulances, once upon a time, were six months, 180 days, start to finish, from the day you sign the paperwork to the day it's in your door,” Beattie said. He previously served the city as its fire chief before taking the city manager job. “This council wasn’t the council that approved those two ambulances, it was actually two years ago or more — we’re close to like 2.5 years ago now that [they were] ordered.”

In a meeting of the city council in November 2023, councilors adopted a resolution authorizing $981,262 for two Horton Class I Type I ambulances from Greenwood Emergency Vehicles, with funding to be provided through bonding.

“Ambulances, you’re looking at about three years, fire trucks are hitting the four- and five-year mark from the day they’re ordered,” Beattie said. “It’s unbelievable.”