GUILDERLAND — The town is planning to build a third station for its emergency medical services.

Currently, Guilderland EMS has a station in Westmere, off of Route 20, and a station on Carman Road.

The new station, which supervisor Peter Barber says will be equal distance between the two locations, is to be built near the town-owned golf course, with access to both routes 20 and 146.

The project will be funded largely by monies from the federal American Rescue Plan, Barber said at the town board’s Feb. 1 meeting.

At its Feb. 15 meeting, board members unanimously authorized Delaware Engineering to put out requests for proposals for the new building.

Jay Tyler, Guilderland’s EMS director, wrote a Jan. 28 memo to Barber, explaining that the town service now deploys three ambulances and one Advanced Like Support First Response vehicle from three locations — one of which is the Guilderland firehouse.

“The facility no longer meets our needs,” Tyler wrote of the firehouse, stating that EMS providers during the pandemic expanded their scope of practice to include vaccination and testing for COVID-19.

“The proposed EMS station would be an essential deployment site for homebound vaccinations and accommodate crew alteration related to POD events,” Tyler wrote of points of dispensing, meaning giving vaccinations from a station. 

“The proposed facility,” he went on, “would also serve as a shower and decontamination site for category pathogens.”

Several board members asked if a light would be needed at the new station, similar to the one used by the fire department to stop traffic so vehicles can quickly exit.

Barber said that only the fire department uses the light and that the ambulances don’t need it. “They’re very careful,” he said. Drivers respect sirens and flashing lights, Barber said, and the EMS crew has “never had an accident.”

Board member Christine Napierski said it is difficult to make a left turn onto Route 20.

“No matter where you put this structure on Route 20, it’s going to be difficult to turn left at certain times of day,” said Barber.

He also said that a lot of the ambulance calls are to the nursing home in Guilderland Center, meaning the ambulances would exit from the new station onto Route 146 on which the nursing home is located.

Barber concluded that the board will be shown the specifications, and said that the authorization for RFPs is “to keep things moving.”