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By Scott Benjamin The New Milford Ambulance Corporation’s facilities have moved out of an antiquated barn and into a 21st-century brick building, and inaugurating the new structure, the organization presented two $100,000 checks to Mayor Patricia Murphy toward its costs. Almost one year to the day after the formal ground-breaking, the ribbon was cut last Friday on the 10,000-square-foot facility on Scovill Road, near the former Century Brass plant, which will be the headquarters for the emergency services operations. John (Jack) Oxton, the chairman of the building committee and the treasurer for the ambulance corporation, and Andrew Armstrong, the president of the corporation, presented a $100,00 check to the town from its building fund and another $100,000 contribution from the proceeds of its billing for ambulance services. The ambulance corporation began its current billing system early last year, as VinTech, which is based in Torrington, has provided service weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. when there are fewer members of the ambulance corporation available to handle calls. Mr. Oxton told the Town Council last year that 143 of the 163 ambulance corporations in Connecticut have similar billing systems. He said in an interview last week that, over the coming years, “as we bring in revenue” we will “share it with the town.” “We thought we would be there forever,” Mr. Armstrong said regarding the ambulance barn on Housatonic Avenue, just beyond Young’s’ Field Road, which became the home of the ambulance corporation in the 1970s when Lou White was the first selectman. Mr. Oxton said the project had been in the planning stages for five years. Ms. Murphy praised Mr. Oxton for a “stellar effort” in coordinating the project, which she indicated was the first new public safety facility built in town since the police station, which opened in 1989. The town allocated $3.5 million, and Mr. Oxton said the final costs will be “substantially” lower than that, primarily because it bid for the project last year when many companies were seeking work as the country attempted to climb out of what has been reported as the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Enfield Builders was awarded the construction contract of $2.510 million, which was well less than the estimates early last year. Mr. Oxton said last week that it will probably take a month to determine what the final price tag is for the new facility. Mr. Armstrong said the new facility would provide ample space for training and would allow the ambulance corporation to house additional vehicles at the site if that becomes warranted in the future. Town Council Vice Chairman Roger Szendy said that, if necessary, a fire engine could be housed on an emergency basis at the new ambulance facility. Mr. Armstrong has said that at the former ambulance barn three ambulances had to be crammed into two bays. He said the site is located in a section of town where a majority of the ambulance calls occur. However, Mr. Armstrong said those statistics might change at least slightly given the recent improvements to Route 7 and the construction of the2.

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