NORWICH – The second round of bids requested for a new ambulance for the City of Norwich Fire Department were received last week, and the Common Council will decide whether or not to approve money for the vehicle during next week’s meeting.

The fire department has three ambulances, but the oldest of the three is currently out of service due to maintenance issues. The new ambulance would replace the oldest model, a 1997 with high mileage.

The first round of bids was received in April, but the Common Council rejected them due to the fact that the wording in the bid request had created a great disparity in the prices, with one company quoting a price for a new vehicle and another showing the price of a demo model. The second round, received last week, contained only one bid from Tyler Fire Equipment for a Medtec Ambulance.

Fire Chief Tracy Chawgo told members of the Finance / Personnel Committee last Tuesday that Tyler had quoted a price of $108,051 for a demo model ambulance with less than 10,000 miles. The department will receive an additional $7,500 for their trade-in, bringing the final cost to $100,551. Chawgo explained the ambulance is the same size as the current models, but they are going with a different manufacturer for this ambulance in order to keep costs down.