November 2008 At the November Meeting of the LCAD Board of Directors, the decision was made to have our oldest ambulance remounted onto a new chassis. The current chassis is a 2003 Ford E450 and has 151,XXX miles on it. The truck will be taken to Arrow manufacturing in Iowa to be refurbished and placed onto a 2009 Chevrolet G4500 chassis. The chassis has been ordered from Cupp Chevrolet of Marceline. The chassis is expected to take 6-8 weeks for delivery and once delivered, the refurbish and remounting is expected to take 4-6 weeks. The decision to refurbish the truck rather than purchase a new one will save the the district in excess of $60K as the cost of a new truck is $140K. Construction on the new station continues with the masonry work having begun. The foundation and basement concrete is complete and the driveways are partially complete. See the New Station Photos link for updates. August 2008 At the August meeting of the LCAD Board of Directors, the District made good on the promise to roll the property tax back. The tax was reduced from 28.8 cents per hundred dollars of assessed valuation to 7.21 cents. That’s a 75% reduction in ambulance property tax levy! The good news continues because the new rate is retroactive to January 2008 so you will see the reduction for the entire 2008 tax year when you receive your tax bill this fall. This was made possible by the passage of the sales tax. The sales tax also allowed us to add a second full-time ambulance crew in July of 2006 to keep up with our growing call volume. July 2008 Construction of the new ambulance station has begun at 28600 Hwy 11 near Wal-Mart and adjacent to the Best Western Hotel. A long term goal of the district has been the construction of a new ambulance station. This has been discussed at board meetings for several years and may now become a reality. Since its start in the 1970s, LCAD has never built a new base station. Our current facility has served the District over ten years but we have quickly outgrown the “old schoolhouse”. Our ambulance’s bumper touches the wall just to clear the garage door. There is no approved decontamination area for equipment and we have experienced continual problems with the flat roof despite spending large amounts of money to repair it. Staff quarters do not have adequate fire escapes and the buildings electrical system is problematic. The newer facility will have adequate garage space for all apparatus and a training area for staff and first responders. The District received a generous donation of land from Phillip Murfin and his family in the summer of 2006. It is approximately one acre in size and due to it’s prime location, the District would have not been able to acquire it without the support of the Murfin Family. The architect firm of Williams, Spurgeon, Kuhl, and Freshnock was chosen to design the new ambulance station. They are experienced in public safety building design and have been also working with Pershing Memorial Hospital with the design of their new addition and remodel. The construction of the new station is expected to be completed in April or May and the current station at 314 S. Caldwell St. will be retired as surplus property. There has been interest from local persons and organizations in the procurement of the old station so the district does not expect the building to be vacated for any long period of time. The new station project is a boost to the local economy with many subcontractor being local to the area and most of the materials are being purchased locally. We are proud to be updating our facility and wish to assure the tax payers that we have always put patient care, quality equipment and services, and highly trained personnel first. We have a solid group of EMT’s and Paramedics that employ the latest advances in emergency medicine and the construction of the new station will only further enhance our ability to continue to recruit quality healthcare providers. This project was spearheaded by the generous donation of property by the Murfin Family. When you donate to the Linn County Ambulance District, you are making a solid investment in the healthcare of all Linn County residents. Anyone wishing to donate to the Linn County Ambulance District may do so as a tax-deductible charitable donation. Linn County Ambulance has a 501c3 charitable foundation for such donations. Donations can be in the form of equipment, goods, services, property, or monetary amounts. For information contact 660-258-2262 The Linn County Ambulance District Board of Directors, administration, and staff would like to thank the voters of Linn County for their support. Our pledge is to continue to provide the highest level of care to the sick and injured and our dedication shall reflect your trust in us. | 
