Old ambulance needs to go, commissioners say

CLARKTON — Commissioners are working out logistics of town storage, and have found an issue of how to dispose of an old ambulance, as well concerns about how the county places the rescue squads.

Currently the town no longer has a rescue squad, and the building is vacant of occupants.

“There’s only one ambulance sitting there,” Commissioner Stephen Hester said. “The other one was sold to the county.”

The ambulance is extremely old, and the town is assessing its options. The expectation is that it would have to be donated to a nonprofit rather than being sold outright. The board agreed that something needs to happen with it, so the building can be cleaned.

“I have been trying to get it out of the building but nobody seems to want it at this time,” Hester said.

Chris Hall, director of maintenance for Clarkton, said the goal was to get the building cleaned out for storage. That would enable him to be able to store town materials. Hall was directed by the mayor to write a letter to the county to find out what it would take have it acquire the rescue squad building.

Cliff Hester, attorney for the town and no relation to Stephen Hester, did inquire of the board if the town was being taxed on it, and they replied that they were not.

“The county doesn’t come to this area,” Stephen Hester said. “Ya’ll need to fight with the county about that particular incidence, because there are a lot of preferences amongst the county commissioners about where the ambulances are stationed. If they do come down here, it’s very rare.”

Right now ambulances that do come down are likely coming from Elizabethtown, which is at least 15 minutes out, leaving critical care concerns in situations where time is a factor. Stephen Hester said that he was not affiliated with the “daily operations” aspect of the rescue groups anymore, and that he would not be able to comment.

If the old building was available it would be used for storage for town equipment and resources.