Johnson County to address space needs of ambulance service department

IOWA CITY - For several years now, the general consensus among those in the Johnson County Ambulance Service Department has been to make do with what they have.

The department moved into the building at 808 S. Dubuque St. in 1988 and retrofitted the former Fisher auction building into a serviceable ambulance facility - with paramedics hanging drywall, installing windows and turning a portion of the building into an ambulance garage.

Nearly 27 years ago, the building was a considerable improvement from the department's former digs in a converted carwash facility on Capitol Street. But today the space is definitely showing its age.

'This was a huge step up for us in 1988,” said Dave Dvorsky, ambulance service assistant director. 'It has served us well, but we have certainly outgrown our space.”

Recent decisions by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors conveys a commitment to finally provide the department with a new facility to meet rising calls for service, a growing staff and an increasing need for space.

Last month, the board approved sending an application for rezoning of the vacant lot directly to the north of the ambulance services building. If approved by the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission and Iowa City Council, the property would be rezoned to match the neighboring lot.

That would allow the board to begin more formal discussions on designing a future county ambulance services building, which likely will be built on both parcels of land.

Andy Johnson, the county's executive assistant, said he plans to draft this week a request for proposals to begin the search for an architect to design the new facility.

The county fiscal year 2016 budget, published this past week, has a $3 million budget line to go toward a new facility. That funding - if the budget is approved next month - will add to the $400,000 set aside for the project last year.

Action on a new facility had been placed on hold for the past several years as county officials attempted to address the security and space issues at the Johnson County Courthouse and jail building. But as Supervisor Janelle Rettig said, the ambulance service department's needs no longer can be ignored.

'You can't put off these projects any longer,” Rettig said. 'It has needed to be fixed for a long time and it's time to do it.”

Getting busier

In 1988 the ambulance service department's roughly 25 staff members responded to about 4,000 calls for service, Ambulance Service Director Steve Spenler said. Last year the department's 62 employees responded to more than 9,300 calls.

The size of a new facility will be fleshed out in later discussions, but, Spenler said, it ideally would include garage space for six of the department's seven ambulances - currently one out of service ambulance has to be kept across the street in a nearby parking facility.

The department would continue to operate ambulances out of Coralville and East Iowa City locations.

The new garage, which can fit a cramped four ambulances, also would have higher bay doors. The current building's doors offer only about six inches of clearance between the top of the door and the roof of the county's older ambulances, which were custom-built shorter to accommodate the doors.

The chassis of the shorter ambulances are no longer manufactured, so all new ambulances stand more than one foot taller - too tall to even fit inside the old building's garage.

The new facility ultimately would be built to serve the needs of the department's staff.

With a new building, the department no longer would have to use the same cramped room for employee information entry, patient documentation, vehicle tracking, classes and as a lunchroom.

The ambulance service department is hardly the only county department involved in this discussion, as county officials plan to create a new building to service the needs of the Medical Examiner's Office, Auditor's Office and Facilities Department as well.

The Medical Examiner's Office's administrative duties are carried out in the Johnson County Administration Building, 913 S. Dubuque St., in a space shared with the Treasurer's Department. The office's response truck is kept in a nearby parking garage, and archived files are stored in the county Health and Human Services Building, 855 S. Dubuque St.

Mike Hensch, administrator for the Medical Examiner s Office, said bringing all those resources together into one building - the department's partnership with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for pathology duties will continue at the hospital - would remove many logistical challenges faced in daily work duties such as moving supplies and equipment whenever responding to a scene.

The Medical Examiner's Office also is facing an annual increase in cases, having increased from 576 accepted and jurisdiction declined cases in 2010 to 690 cases last year. The office already has seen 60 cases this year.

The county's Auditor's Office also seeks to benefit from a new building, which could include storage space for the department's roughly 70 carts worth of voting equipment, currently stored in the old Carquest building, 821 S. Dubuque St. The equipment has to be stored in a climate-controlled space with security cameras.

Also stored in the Carquest building is the county's Facilities Department's equipment including mowers, vehicles and other items. Storage for this equipment also could be included in the new building.

A site for development

By moving facilities and Auditor's Office storage to the new building, the county would be able to vacate the old Carquest building, which is considered prime real estate in Iowa City's rapidly growing Riverfront Crossings District, especially for it's proximity to the new park planned for the district's Southwest area.

'That's going to be a great site for redevelopment should the county choose to do so,” said Jeff Davidson, Iowa City economic development administrator.

The Riverfront Crossings Master Plan indicates that the property at 821 S. Dubuque St. could see development of a building up to six floors, with the possibility of an additional height bonus.

Both Rettig and Supervisor Rod Sullivan expressed interest in pursuing a development project that would include residential offerings, particularly for affordable housing.

'I'm very much in favor of pursuing something like that,” Sullivan said.

Decisions on that project are still down the road. But with money set aside and a rezoning application filed, it appears the board is ready to finally address the space needs of several of its county departments.

'Both (the ambulance services and medical examiner) departments are working in facilities that, from the day they moved in, we knew weren't completely adequate,” Sullivan said. 'We finally decided to bite the bullet. It's not going to get any cheaper.”