WESTBROOK – The Westbrook City Council has given preliminary approval to a plan to purchase a new cab and chassis for one of the city’s ambulances, allowing the city to save some money while extending the life of the vehicle’s body.

The council voted 6-0 (Council President Brendan Rielly absent) on Monday to approve the purchase of a new heavy-duty cab and chassis and to have the city’s existing ambulance body affixed to that chassis at a cost of $99,146.

City Administrator Jerre Bryant said that the plan to purchase just a new cab and chassis instead of a new ambulance is cost-effective for the city.

“In an effort to maintain safe, quality and efficient rescue equipment at the lowest possible cost to the city, the Fire and Rescue department has requested this purchase of a new cab and chassis and the reuse of the ambulance body, which has a much longer life cycle than the truck component (of the vehicle),” he said. “This approach has been utilized by other departments with great success and helps control the cost of this very specialized public safety equipment.”

According to Bryant, the city will not be short an ambulance while the work is being done. He said the company that is doing the work for the city, Sugarloaf Ambulance and Rescue Vehicles of Wilton, will be providing a loaner ambulance at no charge while the new unit is being built.

The council also set a public hearing date of Nov. 19 for three separate issues. The council gave its preliminary approval (5-1, Councilor Paul Emery against) to amendments to the city’s sign ordinance. The amendment would allow 100 square feet of signage for each 25 feet of a building’s road frontage, with the exception of buildings located in the city’s industrial park district, where the allowable signage increases to 200 square feet.

The other issues that will be discussed at public hearings at the Nov. 19 council meeting is a change in definitions of terms in the city’s land use ordinance and a proposed amendment that would allow sidewalk dining at city restaurants. Both of those proposals received unanimous preliminary approval by the council on Nov. 5.