INSIDE

Board OKs new ambulance

It looks like there will be a shiny new ambulance in the New Year for the Point Roberts fire department. Board members David Gellatly and Bill Meursing gave the go-ahead to fire chief Bill Skinner at the commission’s regular meeting August 9.

The ambulance would cost approximately $108,000 depending upon the exact options chosen and is based on a city of Bellingham bid. The district would expect to receive delivery of the unit in six to eight months.

In other district news, the board agreed to raise pay for hourly employees. District commissioner David Gellatly said, “My sense is that it’s something we should do every year. It’s way overdue,” adding he believed volunteers’ compensation should be looked at as well. “It hasn’t been addressed in two or three years; I would suggest eight percent is in line with the CPI (consumer price index) over the last few years. There’s definitely room in the budget,” Gellatly concluded.
Gellatly and fellow commissioner Bill Meursing voted to implement the pay rise in the next pay period for the hourly employees, which include the fire chief, assistant chief, finance manager and the secretary.

In July, the department responded to 14 calls, nine of which were emergency medical calls. Five calls involved hospital transport, two by helicopter. Volunteers put in a total of 1,103 hours.