PAYNESVILLE -- The city of Paynesville has made a land purchase offer for a new ambulance garage and a future emergency medical services building.
During the City Council's special meeting Wednesday, the council approved an offer of $240,000 for a 20-acre parcel of land located four blocks east of the Paynesville Area Hospital. The parcel would be used for building a replacement garage for the Paynesville Area Ambulance Service and for a future emergency medical services center.
Mayor Jeff Thompson said the city-owned, hospital-leased ambulance garage has "been around forever" and is running into mold issues and structural weaknesses.
"It's basically uninhabitable," Thompson said in a Thursday phone interview.
"It's kind of suitable for storage, but the ambulance people need space to do training ... and you can't have people in that building for any length (of time)," Thompson said. "Plus, they're trying to store their sterile stuff in ambulances, and you got that parked in a garage that's got its own issues. So then you start having some health and safety concerns."
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Thompson said the Paynesville Area Ambulance Service needs a new facility by "the end of construction season" and the council is trying to prepare for the future with the pending land investment.
Thompson said the city's fire hall is already full with department equipment. Also, its location, side-by-side with the existing garage and across the street from Paynesville Elementary School, makes safety concerns an issue for both services.
"We need some room for potential growth and expansion in the future," Thompson said about the plan for a new ambulance garage and emergency medical services addition. "We're just looking to the future to find a more suitable site with room for expansion which is a little more safer."
The 20-acre parcel is located next to the St. Louis Catholic Church Cemetery on Lake Avenue South. The parcel is also "centrally located," Thompson said, situated near the hospital and a few blocks away from state Highways 23 and 55.
If the offer is accepted, the city would begin construction on the new garage immediately, Thompson said. The ambulance garage would be "real modest" with three stalls, two bathrooms and a price tag of $90,000 to $100,000. Fundamentally, Thompson said, the new garage would be the same size as the old one.
Construction would not begin on the emergency medical services addition to the garage for another five or 10 years, Thompson said. The city would also work with the hospital during the construction of both buildings, Thompson said.
Thompson said the garage and future emergency medical services building would be linked so that facilities such as classrooms, a fitness center, or dorm rooms could be utilized by all employees of the public services.
