Committee approves $22,058.29 payment to Waubonsee for paramedic training

The Public Health, Safety and Transportation Committee on Feb. 10 approved a resolution authorizing payment of invoice S0035939 for $22,058.29 to Waubonsee Community College to cover emergency medical technician/paramedic education expenses.

Phil Bergeron, division chief of training for the fire department, told the committee the payments resulted from an administrative oversight rather than an unauthorized expenditure. "I didn't realize that we had exceeded that $50,000 threshold," Bergeron said, explaining Aurora sent 17 students to a one-year paramedic program across spring, fall and summer sessions. Bergeron said the department had budgeted for the program and that staggered billing cycles ($33,000, then $17,000, then $22,000) failed to trigger an internal threshold alert until staff review by Dan Ferguson.

Committee members asked whether the overage had been anticipated and whether enrollment assumptions explained the excess. Bergeron said the city had planned to send 17 students and that the overage reflected the timing and structure of invoices rather than unexpected enrollments.

A motion to approve the payment was made by Alderman Seville and seconded by Alderman Bugg. The committee voted unanimously to approve the payment, recorded as 5-0.

Next steps: the approved resolution moves to the next stage of administrative processing and payment to Waubonsee Community College. No further action on this specific invoice was taken at the meeting.