James McKenzie Quotations

We don't leave the district without a crew. Cedar County does, but we don't. We won't take a transfer unless there is a crew ready to answer the call if someone needs an ambulance here in Vernon County. These are the people we serve and we won't leave them without protection.

I've heard that people are saying it cost $300,000. That's way more than it cost. We paid $165,000 for it and there were good reasons to buy it. It's larger than previous units we've had. Our fleet was aging, our first out ambulance is more than eight years old and we were spending a lot of maintenance on it.

People have a lot of misconceptions about the district. I just want to get the information out there so they know what is going on.

We have the best support from patrons. At Christmas we have people bring stuff in here all the time and express their gratitude, and we really appreciate their support.

They do driver training. If you're driving a $165,000 piece of equipment you need to know how to handle it.

...All that combined is a greater burden on him than we, as a state and society, can impose.

We do not feel on-site training is sufficient for our employees to avoid unnecessary accidents and potential loss of limb or life.

Taxes bring in about $300,000 a year. Even with only one ambulance and the staff to man it 24 hours a day it would stretch that $300,000. Then, of course, there's rent and utilities and all the other expenses. The district was formed 28 years ago. How many times have we asked for an increase since then? I think it's been one time. We are trying to provide the best service we can for the area and do it as efficiently as we can.

You can't buy the same pair of jeans at the same price you could five years ago. Why would you expect our cost to stay the same?

Alex never asked that. He never, ever actually asked what I did. It was, 'What was I going to do? Was I going to be better?' He just kept it very positive for me.