Voting 4-1 during their regular monthly meeting on Dec. 4, the council accepted the bid from Life Star Rescue, Inc., a company based out of Van Wert, Ohio.

George Hedges Jr. cast the one dissenting vote, while Barbara Stewart was not present at the meeting and did not vote.

According to Rick Bell, a Life Star sales representative present at the council meeting, it will take the company 60 to 75 days to build the ambulance and deliver it to Dry Ridge, depending on when the order is placed.

Although the council voted to approve the bid, they did not vote to purchase the ambulance. The city will wait until it's certificate of need application is approved by the state, at which time Mayor Bill Cull will authorize purchase of the ambulance.

Cull said the city expects to hear from Frankfort concerning the certificate of need on Dec. 20. After the certificate is approved, Cull will contact Life Star so that they can begin building the ambulance

"We'll get a phone call sometime on the 20th of this month. We're just waiting the finalization to proceed with the ambulance service," said Cull.

The city will also continue to wait and hear from the Dana Corporation, and the possibility that the Dry Ridge-based company will purchase the city's first ambulance through the Dana Foundation.

According to Jim DeMoisey, human resources manager for Dana Corp., the Dana Foundation met on Nov. 21, but did not discuss the Dry Ridge ambulance service.

"Unfortunately, we do not have any information back from the Dana Foundation about this proposal," said DeMoisey.

The Dana Foundation, which typically meets on a quarterly basis, has not set a date for their next meeting.

While financial support from Dana is still up in the air, Dry Ridge firefighter Jeff Nantz, nonetheless, has been pleased with the amount of support received from throughout the state and the projected time frame to get the ambulance service operational.

"We've had plenty of help and support from across the state." said Nantz. "It's coming along. Obviously, not as fast as we'd like it to be. But our hands and the city's hands are somewhat tied. We're moving as fast as we can, but at the same time we have to wait for the certificate of need and for the ambulance to be built."

Meanwhile, the council voted 4-0, with Hedges abstaining, to pass the second reading of the personnel policy ordinance for the six prospective employees for the ambulance service. This action creates official recognition of the positions and allows the application process to begin.

"It's good that they passed the personnel policy. It will allow the fire chief to put a list together of available folks that we can hire," said Nantz.

At the meeting, the council picked Life Star's winning bid from among four bids, placed by two companies. The winning bid was for a newly built, 2001 Braun Standard Express Type 3 ambulance, similar to those currently used in the Lexington and Northern Kentucky areas.

"Instead of a van that we're used to, this will be a box bed ambulance service with a lifetime guarantee that it can be changed over to another chassis to another vehicle," said Cull. "Over the years, that's a $40,000 savings."