Councilors approve used ambulance purchase, repair and replacement of fire station overhead doors

LACONIA — City councilors approved the purchase of a used ambulance for the fire department at their meeting on Monday night. 

Councilors held public hearings on the ambulance purchase, as well as accepting a grant for the police department to buy two side-by-side utility vehicles, and replacing two garage door motors at the Laconia Fire Department’s Central Station, all of which were later approved. 

The city has two new ambulances on order. The first is expected to arrive in April 2026. Because of the poor condition of the existing ambulance fleet, the used ambulance will enable the fire department to maintain keeping three ambulances in service at all times. A city mechanic inspected the used ambulance, a 2014 International, and reported it in good condition.  

The cost of the ambulance purchase is not to exceed $55,000, and the funds will be appropriated from the Internal Service Fund. Of that amount, $25,400 is to be provided through a transfer from the fire department’s impact fees account and the remainder — $29,600 — from the existing account balance. The internal service funds will be reimbursed from the fire department’s impact fee account as impact fees become available.

“As [Laconia Fire Chief Tim Joubert’s] impact fees build up, which it certainly will before the end of this fiscal year, that money will have to be returned into the internal service fund,” City Manager Kirk Beattie said. “It’s budgeted money that we already have, it will just be moved around once impact fees come in, as long as you approve that. It keeps the internal service fund whole and is used as expected, this money.”

The city’s internal service fund is used to repair and replace city vehicles, with police, fire and public works representing the lion’s share of those expenses, though staff members of other city departments drive vehicles, too.

“For what we need for the time right now, I think we’re pleased with the opportunity,” Beattie said.   

On the garage door motors, councilors approved the use of impact fee funds to replace two of them, and provide maintenance on others at the Central Station. The current motors are no longer manufactured or supported. 

The cost is not to exceed $15,000.

“The original request was for one, but the other one had to be fixed,” Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney said. “The second one becomes cheaper because we’re [already] doing it.”

And on Oct. 14, following a public hearing, councilors approved a request to accept a grant from the Department of Homeland Security for $51,000 to fund the police department’s purchase of two side-by-side vehicles. The amount was stated erroneously, the correct amount of that grant is $55,000. 

City legal counsel recommended councilors follow the normal grant acceptance procedure to correct the error, and they did so on the evening of Dec. 8. The entire cost of the purchase is funded by the New Hampshire Department of Safety 2025 Homeland Security Competitive Grant. 

The side-by-sides are street legal, and will be driven on the road when needed. The vehicles will be available for use by the police department, the fire department and other city departments for access to unpaved areas and also routes around heavily congested traffic.

With the ability to access areas where patrol and other emergency vehicles cannot, it could provide city staff a way to respond more efficiently during active threat situations, or during major events like Laconia Motorcycle Week and the Laconia Pumpkin Festival.