The city of Streator is looking to run its own ambulance service. But the next issue the city is facing is how they are going to staff it.
The city opened three request for proposal bids last week from the fire department and two private services called AMR and Public Services of Illinois. City Manager David Plyman says he was impressed with bids from private services. He says there was only a $9,000 difference between the $1.1 million proposals.
The fire department’s bid wasn’t considered because it would cost about $200,000 more to hire workers through the city. The city council wants to sign a three year contract with one of the private services, although that hasn’t been decided yet. They will have another special city council meeting next Monday to pick which service is best for the city.
Although the city wants to run the ambulance service going forward, Commissioner Brian Crouch says he wishes the city didn’t drag its feet for so long. It could have given the council more time to make another decision. He says the city should have went with AMT for another year before making a switch.
AMT was asking the city for $700,000 a year if they signed a new contract.