The Western Carroll County Ambulance District board met June 13 for a special meeting with Mayor Butch Berry, Fire Chief Nick Samac and Asst. Fire Chief Bob Pettus of the Eureka Springs Fire Department Emergency Medical Services to smooth out the points of negotiation in the new contract for ESFD to provide ambulance service for the western part of the county.
The five commissioners held another special meeting earlier to go over responses ESFD had made to the proposed contract. Commissioner Ken Mills wanted clarification as to what training ESFD intended to provide, for example. It appeared what was offered was Emergency Medical Responder training one year and a course for Emergency Medical Technicians the next, but commissioners were not sure this schedule fit the need.
Commissioner Marie Lee wondered if it would not be more useful to have EMR training every year instead. Some EMRs in their district are due to retire soon and replacements would need training.
Consensus was they could work with ESFD on a more flexible arrangement.
Chair Sam Ward remained steadfast wanting more information as to whether ESFD would have two ambulances available at all times for the western district as the contract states. He said it was not unreasonable to want to know when or how often ESFD covered the western district with a third or fourth ambulance. Ward also brought up the fact the contract requires 15-minute response times on at least 90 percent of the calls, and they all acknowledge there are areas in the western district remote enough to make 15-minutes expectation unreasonable.
Lee liked the plan for encircling the 15-minute response area with an 18-minute response area to make compliance clearer. Nevertheless, commissioners still wanted explanations for incidents beyond expected response time.
“And we don’t want to bust them for exceeding 15 minutes when the calls are non-emergencies,” Ward commented, asking that those calls be identified on reports.
Commissioners went through the rest of the contract item by item but found few other unclear items, at which point Samac, Pettus and Berry arrived and the second special meeting began.
Samac distributed maps for commissioners identifying what he determined should be the 15-minute zone surrounded by the 18-minute zone, which began a point-by-point walk through the contract. They quickly agreed on a flexible schedule for Emergency Medical Responder and Emergency Medical Technician trainings based on the need.
Discussion of two ambulances available at all times for the western district took more time and effort. Pettus said he had explained in the bid how ESFD planned to handle circumstances when two ambulances were called out, or three or four. ESFD also has mutual aid agreements with nearby services as further backup.
There was consensus that ESPD had an acceptable backup plan, but commissioners wanted explanations for all calls beyond the expected response time, to which Samac replied he would provide explanations for any call and Pettus agreed to add a column for noting the use of third or fourth ambulances.
Commissioner David Carlisle said he would rewrite the proposed contract present it to the mayor.
Next regular meeting will be Tuesday, June 20, at 4 p.m., at the Grassy Knob Fire Station.