By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning Ambulance Service is hoping to take a proactive approach to replacing its ambulance fleet.

During its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Feb. 5, the Henning City Council heard from ambulance co-director Chelsea Waskosky about a creative approach to enhancing its ambulance fleet.

Waskosky said the local ambulance service would like to remount an ambulance on a new chassis at a cost of $210,000. This would essentially place the existing box of an ambulance on a new chassis of an ambulance. The cost is significantly less than the $315,000 cost for a new ambulance, which Waskosky said would fit the needs of the growing ambulance service. 

The wait time for a remounted ambulance is 2-2 1/2 years, which is significantly longer than it was just six months ago when Waskosky initially began exploring the option of a remounted ambulance. She said Astera Health is also remounting some of its ambulances since the wait time and cost is much more affordable than a whole new ambulance. 

The Henning City Council gave the green light to get on the wait list for a remounted ambulance at an approximate cost of $210,000.

In other news

• Approved setting a public hearing for March 4 at 6 p.m. for the vacation of a public alley on Fergus Avenue near the Star City Apartments. Henning Utilities Supervisor Ted Strand said the alley serves no public purpose and would be good to get put back on the tax rolls if approved by the city council.

• Approved a liquor license renewal for B&D Foods and Rahn’s Oil and Propane.

• Approved a request for a full liquor license for The Farmstand in Henning. Co-owner Brittany Springer said a number of patrons have asked to have the establishment serve a full liquor option. Currently the city has just one on-sale liquor license, which is at the Gateway Pub. 

• Approved allowing Strand to move forward with the design portion of the underground utility project associated with the Highway 108 project. Strand said every service and underground utility has been identified on the city end and he is ready to move forward with the design part of his project. He said the city is now waiting on representatives from MnDOT to finish their portion of the planning process and it was not known when that would be completed. The goal would be to have city officials, city engineers and MnDOT representatives to walk the project at the same time when all of the planning has been completed to make sure everyone is on the same page. 

• Heard that a former police officer for the Henning Police Department, who still works for the city part-time, may be interested in coming back to the local police department on a full-time basis. The city council approved making an offer of $29 per hour to the individual to see if they would be interested in coming back to the Henning Police Department on a full-time basis. Henning Police Chief Mike Helle said if the city were to hire the individual on a full-time basis the city would save approximately $10,000 in additional training and purchasing additional equipment for the individual. 

• Approved a request from the Henning EDA to apply for a grant distributed by Otter Tail County that could provide grants to businesses for enhancements to the exterior of their buildings for things like new doors, awnings and other ways to give the business an updated look.