The Leland Township Fire and Rescue Department will be purchasing a "new" ambulance sometime this year.

At the Township Board meeting Monday, fire chief Mike Fandel and Don McMullin, head of the department’s rescue operations, talked about the need to purchase another ambulance.

McMullin said the current vehicle was a “demo” unit bought in 1998. It only has 57,000 miles, but McMullin said the department has been forced to make costly repairs to the ambulance over the last year. When the repairs, which included $8,000 in transmission work, were being made it left the department without an ambulance in which to respond to calls.

“It left us with some logistical problems. We had have other departments dispatch their ambulances to respond to calls in our township,” Fandel said.

Department members have examined different units and support purchasing another demonstration rig, a 2004 ambulance, through the McCoy-Miller company. McMullin said the 2004 vehicle has 12,000 miles, but has never been used in service to a department. “It’s the rig they take around to different departments to show what they can offer,” he said.

The advantages of purchasing a demo are that it already has most of the items the department needs to equip an ambulance, and it would cost about $20,000 less than a new ambulance. Fandel said the department has been setting aside funds over the last five years to purchase a new ambulance. He said the department would take the $20,000 and use it to fully equip the new ambulance. The department would then use the 2004 unit as its primary rig and the existing ambulance as its back-up.

Fandel said the existing ambulance’s license would remain current and could be used if the newer rig is at another rescue scene.

Supervisor Harry Larkin said Fandel and McMullin should have the township fire board review material, make a recommendation and refer the request back to the township board for its Feb. 4 budget work session.

In other business, the board:

• Unanimously approved amending the township library budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year by taking $37,000 from the library’s fund balance and increasing its budget to $187,000. Library director Sylvia Merz said the funds will be used for an interior renovation to the library that is expected to take place later this year. The renovations include realigning the library’s book shelves and creating an overall better traffic flow in the building.

• Unanimously approved an agreement with the county and Empire, Glen Arbor, Cleveland and Centerville townships on the disbursement of federal “payment in lieu of taxes” (PILT) monies. Larkin said the County Board agreed to split the PILT funds 60-40 withe five townships splitting the 60 percent share amongst themselves based on the amount of federally held land within each township’s boundaries. Leland Township should receive about $8,000 from those funds. The PILT funds will go into either the township’s fire and rescue department fund or the general fund.

• Agreed to decide on a case-by-case basis whether violations of township Zoning Ordinance rules would be prosecuted under civil or criminal penalties. Trustee Nicholas Lederle said he would not support a blanket either-or policy. The board also unanimously approved removing the following Ordinances: No. 1973-05 uniform traffic code since it was replaced by with a new code by the state in 1982; No. 1980-01 concerning the now-defunct Glen Lake Cable Company; and No. 1981-01 ordinance enforcement officer.