The Idyllwild Fire Protection District is going to explore a loan for the purchase it made of two ambulances in late February. The acquisition was about $90,000 and more costs are needed to prepare the vehicles for medical use.
However, IFPD Finance Committee Chair Nancy Layton, also a fire commissioner, said Fire Chief Patrick Reitz and Commission President Jerry Buchanan were unable to find a financial institution willing to make a reasonable loan for that amount.
Consequently, she appointed an ad hoc committee, composed of Commissioner Jeannine Charles-Stigall and committee member Calvin Gogerty, to investigate loans and whether a request for a larger amount might be more attractive to potential lenders.
IFPD might include in the debt package other projects, such as re-surfacing the paved area around the fire station and outside its engine bays, a new copier and re-financing the existing engine loans, which are due in 2017.
As the committee last week discussed repaving of the concrete apron surrounding the station, Gogerty suggested members research the cost of installing heating coils in it to melt snow and ice where the fire engines enter and exit.
Also, the committee planned to approach the Mile High Radio Club about its interest in installing a ground antenna in the apron. MHRC officials believe that would strengthen the WNKI signal emanating from the antenna behind the station.
Layton requested a preliminary report in two weeks for the committee’s April 21 meeting in advance of the commission’s April 28 meeting.
