DeKalb Times

At its March 27 meeting, the DeKalb City Council approved a couple of items regarding supplies and equipment for the fire department and EMS services. 

The first item council discussed was waiving the normal bidding requirements to purchase three cardiac monitors for $93,361. The Illinois Department of Public Health requires cardiac monitors on all its advanced life-support vehicles, such as responding fire trucks and ambulances, so the city proposed using some of its funds from the Ground Emergency Medical Transportation funding to pay for it, as placing an order before April 1 would mean a savings of over $9,000.

“And we have and in the last year outfitted our front-line ambulances,” city manager Bill Nicklas said. “We have three. The first engines out are also under this IDPH requirement. And that's important in our case because engines and ambulances don't always arrive at the same time at a traffic accident. We may have ambulances out and backup ambulances out in a busy evening or a busy time of the day. And the people who are ... going to have to provide the first level of care. So that's why we need these on those. We don't have them. And we have the training and the expertise to do it right.”

The council uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the city’s YouTube channel.

Council also approved the purchase of Six Steril Koni Column Lifts along with their accessory equipment for a total of $101,092, also using funds from the GEMT fund. This was brought up by Fire Chief Mike Thomas as the department is ahead of schedule for its vehicle maintenance budget for the year. 

Whenever a vehicle breaks down or needs maintenance, the department sends it out for the work and have to do without an engine until it is done. Not only is this inconvenient, it is a rising cost for the department, up to $92,000 in 2022.

The chief proposed putting in lifts and other equipment along with it to be able to lift up an engine or vehicle to do maintenance on it. This way the fire department, and the city public works fleet, could do some of the simpler work on their vehicles, like oil changes, routine maintenance, or replacing parts.

The city will also look to hire a person in the public works department to do these repairs and maintenance operations, which they estimate will come out even or possibly at a cost savings for the city. Mayor Cohen Barnes told the fire chief he would be excited to get a tour of the fire department soon and see all the new equipment and pieces council had approved for the department.

In other business, council discussed paying $22,054.76 to DeKalb Police Officer Elise Dusek for compensation after getting injured during work and seeking medical treatment.

The council will meet again at 6 p.m. on Monday at the Public Library’s Yusuna meeting room on 309 Oak St.