Brooke McAfee
The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
(TNS)
Mar. 21—FLOYD COUNTY — The Floyd County EMS board is recommending that the commissioners reject both EMS bids from New Chapel EMS and AmeriPro Health.
The board’s recommendation follows extensive discussion in recent weeks about fire-based EMS, with many board members and county officials expressing interest in exploring options from Highlander Fire Protection District for ambulance service.
New Chapel and AmeriPro were the only providers to respond to the commissioners’ requests for proposals. New Chapel is Floyd County’s current ambulance provider.
County officials are under a tight deadline to determine the direction of EMS service as New Chapel’s contract is set to expire at the end of May.
The advisory board’s recommendation is only an opinion, and the Floyd County Commissioners will make the actual decision on whether to reject the bids or contract with one of the providers.
Highlander Fire, a district representing Lafayette and Greenville townships, has put together a proposal for expanding EMS services.
Al Knable, president of the Floyd County Commissioners, said he received legal counsel that the commissioners cannot entertain the third option involving Highlander unless they reject the two bids from New Chapel and AmeriPro.
The three commissioners abstained from voting for a recommendation at Thursday’s meeting.
“It is not out of the purview of this advisory board to discuss the fire-based EMS option, but we really can’t formally opine on that as commissioners unless we were to reject the two RFPs, and that would only take place during a formal advertised meeting,” Knable said.
New Chapel EMS has been at the heart of the criminal investigation into Jamey Noel, the former Clark County Sheriff and co-founder of the ambulance provider. Noel is facing 25 felony charges for theft, public corruption, tax evasion and ghost employment.
Over the years, county officials have expressed concerns about the run times and quality of service from New Chapel.
Floyd County Sheriff Steve Bush said he would not support a three-year contract with a private provider as outlined in the RFPs. He was among the board members who recommended rejecting the bids.
“If we went with a contract…that’s too far down the road for me,” he said. “I think a year will be satisfactory to look at other entities.”
Floyd County Health Officer Dr. Tom Harris, a member of the EMS advisory board, said he would like to look beyond private providers for ambulance service.
“We’re dissatisfied with New Chapel with some of the things there,” he said. “AmeriPro is a for-profit service. We’ve had those. They’ve been fairly functional, but they’re for-profit. And then we have another option that would allow us to take a step forward.”
Harris acknowledged that there is “some gamble” with the third option of fire-based EMS, but he feels it should be on the table as a solution. He said he supports rejecting the RFPs if it will allow the county to move forward with the fire-based option.
“Those organizations are theoretically going to be in the community,” he said. “It’s not like they’re going to leave and disappear overnight unless something happens with New Chapel.”
Floyd County Commissioner Jason Sharp, the chair of the EMS advisory board, said he would like to see “good, actionable data” before feeling comfortable with the fire-based EMS option in the current time frame.
“I think there’s a lot of value to doing [fire-based EMS] the right way the first time instead of doing it the way is being discussed,” Sharp said.
He feels the two respondents provided enough information “to make a good, informed decision,” and he said he was hoping to see the board recommend none of the two respondents.
He also noted the reasoning for the three-year contract proposals.
“The main reason for the three-year option is it may be very difficult to have somebody come in here for a matter of time and make the investment that we’re asking to be made for such a short amount of time,” Sharp said.
Floyd County Commissioner John Schellenberger said he feels it would be a “big ask” of the Floyd County Council to pursue the options from the private providers.
“I think it’s a huge ask to go to the county council and ask for an annual stipend for three years for over a million dollars,” he said.
New Chapel EMS proposed an annual cost of $960,000 for the first year. It would increase to $988,800 for the second year and $1.18 million for the third year.
AmeriPro proposed several staffing models. The option that fits the criteria outlined in the RFP for three ambulances and one paramedic response vehicle costs $1.5 million a year.
Knable said whether the commissioners contract privately or go with fire-based EMS, “the amount of funding is going to go up considerably from where we have been the last several years.”
“There’s going to have to be a dedicated funding source for that because the need’s not going to disappear after two years, it’s not going to disappear after three years, and whether we can successfully bring a fire-based EMS on board, that’s going to necessitate ongoing funding,” he said.
Highlander Fire Capt. Brandon Alexander, a member of the EMS advisory board, said Highlander’s proposal is not to “pick up business and make a profit from taxpayers in the county.”
“This plan is an operational plan that is coming from a government-run emergency services provider, and this outline is just how they can expand their scope to include emergency services,” he said. “We’re not trying to make money with this plan, so I don’t think it needs to be considered as a bid toward the RFP.”
The Floyd County Commissioners are currently scheduled to vote on the EMS matter at their April 2 meeting. The Floyd County Council is also expected to discuss funding options for ambulance service at an April 1 meeting.
However, Schellenberger said “time is of the essence” to make a decision on EMS, and he suggested that the commissioners and council meet next week to address the issue. Knable said he would reach out to officials about a potential special meeting.
HIGHLANDER FIRE PROPOSAL
Alexander said Highlander Fire’s operational plan involves staffing two ambulances with personnel certified in advanced life support.
This would involve hiring six paramedics and six EMTs so the district would not rely on the firefighters, he said. A truck for basic life support would run during peak hours during the day for 10 to 12 hours.
Highlander Fire currently responds to EMS runs in the county, but it does not transport patients.
The fire district is certified only in basic life support, but it has applied to become certified in advanced life support, according to Alexander.
The projected cost of Highlander’s proposal is more than $802,000.
Alexander said the proposal includes Georgetown, Greenville, Lafayette and part of Franklin.
However, the current outline does not include New Albany Township, which is currently covered under New Chapel for both fire and EMS.
“If they decide that they don’t want to take care of their own area [for EMS], being a fire-based EMS, we would be in discussion with the commissioners as to how we can provide that as well,” Alexander said.
Nathan Ginn, a captain with Highlander Fire and vice president of the Floyds Knobs Professional Firefighters union, discussed the benefits of the fire-based EMS option.
“We talked about the companies that spend money to provide EMS in our county, our community,” he said. “So they are gonna spend money in our community to buy the service that we’re then paying them for so they can make a profit.”
“There is no profit in fire-based EMS,” he said. “There are no stakeholders, no executives. There is nobody with a nice vacation house or cool jet. There’s just us, the people who work for you.”
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