Benjamin Joe
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, N.Y.
(TNS)
A new ambulance for the Lockport Fire Department may be coming in sooner than thought.
At a recent Common Council work session, 2nd Ward Alderman Anita Mullane asked that a resolution be made to purchase a new ambulance before the end of the year. The 2024 Medix RP-90 Ambulance on a Chevrolet G3500 chassis was approved and the city then put a down payment on it in August.
The funds to buy the ambulance early came from a one-time “state surplus,” Mullane said.
The city owes approximately $160,000 on the ambulance after a 10% down payment was made.
In the mayor’s 2025 budget, $165,000 was earmarked for buying the ambulance, but should the vote go through for using the surplus, that money will be gone from his budget, said Fire Chief Luca Quagliano.
“The ambulance is $165,000 is the budget, but if we do this it’ll come out,” Daniel Cavallari, finance director, said at the meeting.
During this conversation at the work session, Mullane asked if David Blackley, corporation counsel, could write a resolution to buy the ambulance outright, rather than wait.
“I asked David to put in a resolution for us and just pay that ambulance now while we have the $307,000 that we got from the state. Did that go away?” Mullane asked at the meeting.
Blackley was not present and Cavallari said he could write that resolution. As of printing time, it is listed on the agenda as “being prepared.”
Margarett Lupo, 5th Ward alderman, said she would vote “absolutely, yes” on the resolution, though she considered it just “a formality” since the council had already voted and approved taking on a new vehicle.
Lupo also said she ran a campaign in 2022 to bring back the ambulance and while she lost that bid for alderman at-large, when her alderman stepped down in 2023 and she was asked to replace her, the ambulance service was still something of a priority for her.
“Everything that the people who were for the ambulance wanted has happened,” she said, referring to the income for ambulance service and better times, adding that, “public safety is very important.”
She also noted that the City of Buffalo was also looking to have its own ambulance service.
“It’s nice to be first and start a trend,” she said.
Kevin Kirchberger, alderman at-large, also said he was for the ambulance purchase.
“I think it should’ve been done when the ambulance service came back instead of using old equipment that broke down and had to be prepared,” he said.
John Craig, First Ward alderman, however, advised caution. He noted that the money from the state had no restrictions, but more discussion should be made before spending it.
“There’s a lot of things we could do with it. The ambulance could be one of them. Lower the tax rate,” he said. “It’s up for a little more discussion on the best use of those funds.”
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