Ambulance Runs Down, City Expenditures on the Rise
By Leslie Rott

The finance and public safety committees met in a dual meeting Thursday, August 10, to discuss the state of things as the season winds down and summer moves into fall.

The City owes Allied EMS Systems $14,386 to subsidize services from January to June.

Compared to last year at this time, run volume is down by 14. From January 1 to date last year, the service made 97 billable runs, whereas this year, it made only 83.

"We can't control the volume," said Dave Slifka, director of Allied.

The City pays Allied any operating capital that the company can't generate in ambulance services over the course of a year. Last fall, the Island raised $70,000 for a new, stateof the-art ambulance, and last winter, Allied reduced the status of its service so it could reduce the number of trained paramedics and emergency medical technicians that had to accompany the vehicle on runs.

Mr. Slifka said that Allied does not want the City of Mackinac Island to have a loss of more than $30,000 for the year, but added, "Where they are going to end up this year, I have no clue."

In other business discussed by the Finance Committee, city engineer Dennis Dombroski said the louvers on the old County Court House cupola and the tables in the courtroom above the police department need to be replaced. Mr. Dombroski suggested getting five square oak tables of varying sizes, with square legs and estimated the project will cost $28,000. The committee was to recommend the repairs to the City Council when it mets Wednesday, August 16.

Police Chief William Lenaghan told the Public Safety Committee that the department will be getting several new, upgraded cellular telephones in September, since one fell into the water.

The cell phones are used as backups for the radios.

He also suggested that the fire department and ambulance service coordinate with the police department so that all have the same system.

In late August or early September, the police department will be holding emergency training. Forty backpacks were received for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program and 10 people on the Island have been CERT-certified. Chief Lenaghan hopes to train more people this fall and winter.

He also hopes to train additional people to conduct building safety inspections.