Administrator Lee Kempf told the board a field technician for Stryker, a medical technologies firm out of Michigan, was contacted by the district to inspect the power cots that were on hand. A power cot is used to safely transport patients from their home to the ambulance and is utilized on every call. The field technician said this had not been done since the purchase of the cots. Seven of the cots the district currently have need repair. Three of the seven cots have to be taken out of service due to safety issues. Kempf offered a proposal to the board from the technician for all the needed repairs, which totalled $7,217.54.  

Stryker, Kempf said, also services a program to train one of Mid-Mo's employees to maintain the cots and help cut costs in the future. No price has been set on the training as of yet. But, if the cost is not too expensive, Kempf expressed interest in sending a member of his staff to Michigan to train for such a service. Kempf said he would still like to have the inspections on the power cots conducted each year and have major repairs done by Stryker. The offer was approved by the board.

Lake Assault Boats in Superior completed work on the 31-foot vessel right on schedule, but it's still waiting on a pair of 300-horsepower Mercury Verado outboard motors to arrive.  

Chad DuMars, vice president of operations for Lake Assault, explained that bruising back-to-back hurricane seasons damaged many boats in coastal communities, and the rush to repower disabled vessels has left large outboard motors in short supply nationwide. Given the current wait times, DuMars said he expects the backordered twin Mercs to arrive late this year or by early 2019.

The revised schedule now calls for Lake Assault to take the boat through spring sea trials shortly after ice-out this spring, dialing in navigation systems and putting the vessel through its paces before delivering it to the Duluth Fire Department.