City to buy ambulance from Albuquerque group

The city of Tucumcari will buy a demonstration vehicle to replace an ambulance damaged in an accident on Sept. 13, using an emergency allocation from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration.

The city commission at its regular meeting Thursday approved the agreement with DFA, which will provide $254,663 to purchase the ambulance from the Siddon-Martin Emergency Group of Albuquerque, which is $1,000 less than the purchase price of $255,663.

The city will cover the $1,000 difference, City Manager Mark Martinez told the commission on Thursday, and the ambulance should be available within a month.

In the meantime, he said, Presbyterian Health Services, which administers the Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital, will lend the city an ambulance.

Martinez said city and state officials “worked hard” to secure the emergency allocation. District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham contributed to the effort, as well.

Martinez said the wait for a new, custom-built ambulance would have been 12 to 14 months.

Martinez said he also is in talks with the state to secure a second new ambulance for the city.

The ambulance was damaged Sept. 13 by a when it crashed into a Quay County Sheriff’s deputy's vehicle. The ambulance was the one of four that the city owns that was fully functional, Martinez said.

The commission's agenda for an emergency meeting held Sept. 15 stated three of the city's ambulances were "out of commission," and immediate replacement was need to “protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Tucumcari and Quay County."

Before the accident, two other city ambulances were in repair shops, and the city’s only other ambulance was "having issues" mechanically, so the city was borrowing another ambulance from San Jon.

Tucumcari’s city ambulances are obligated to serve not only Tucumcari and Quay County, but portions of San Miguel and Guadalupe counties, Martinez pointed out.

A Tucumcari police report indicated the ambulance, which had a green light, collided with the county squad car at First Street and Tucumcari Boulevard. The deputy was ticketed for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, and he was placed on administrative leave by Sheriff Russell Shafer until an investigation was completed about 10 days later.

Shafer said in an interview Saturday the deputy was going to contest the ticket because the ambulance struck his vehicle. The deputy was returned to administrative duties Wednesday at the sheriff’s office. (See other story in this edition.)

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the commission approved an infrastructure capital investment plan plan for the Tucumcari Senior Citizens Center.

Senior citizen centers in the state submit annual five-year ICIP plans separate from cities’ ICIP plans. The city approved its plan Sept. 9.

ICIP plans are useful when applying for grants from state sources, and they also serve as the basis for capital outlay funds by the New Mexico Legislature.

The senior center’s plan approved Thursday include purchase of a “hot shot” vehicle to deliver hot meals to disabled or homebound seniors, $60,000 in 2024; a transportation vehicle, $190,000 in 2025; replacement of kitchen equipment, $25,000 in 2026; a carport canopy for the Senior Citizens Center, $30,000 in 2026; and a new multipurpose senior center, $400,000 in 2027.

In other action, the commission on Thursday:

• Approved the use of the Five-Mile Park disc golf course for professional tournament on Oct. 23 and Oct. 24. The sponsor is Disconnect Disc Golf of Lubbock, Texas. The tournament is sanctioned by the Professional Disc Golf Association.

• Appointed Merlinda Turner, Nolita Anaya, Marjorie McKenzie and Robert Howells to the city’s Library Board.

Quay County Sun senior writer Ron Warnick contributed to this report.