(ROCKWALL, TX – Sept. 29, 2016) The Rockwall Emergency Services Corporation (ESC) and Ambulance Services Board convened yesterday, Sept. 28, to discuss a “Request For Proposal” document to solicit bids for a countywide ambulance services contract, as well as a proposed contract extension with Medic Rescue Inc., also known as Rockwall County Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
“The Emergency Services Corporation is a separate entity made up of representatives from Rockwall County and each city within the county,” said Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt. “The ESC has a long standing history with Medic Rescue, as they have been the primary ambulance provider in this area for the past 20 years. The contract is set to expire next year, and that’s why we have put out a request for proposal (RFP)—it’s part of the contract negotiation process to best represent the citizens of Rockwall County.”
The county’s current contract with Rockwall EMS is due to expire in September 2017. According to a Rockwall EMS press release, should the county decide to sign the newly proposed contract with EMS a year in advance, it would immediately see improved response times and bring a couple new ambulance stations to the county. EMS also offered to forgo the subsidy money of its current final contract year, saving some $400,000 for the county.
Rockwall County Judge and ESC Director David Sweet expressed his concern with the proposal of increased services with a reduction in subsidy.
“The discomfort that frankly I’m having a hard time getting over is that what you’re proposing is a significant commitment or increase in services with a reduction in subsidy,” Sweet said. “We currently have a contract in place with you that requires a significant amount of subsidy. Exclusivity has been lifted, which was obviously a major portion for you and the ESC Board to take into consideration, at the creation of the contract and obviously as the contract has been extended over the last 20 years. I guess there’s a little bit of a disconnect in terms of the need of a subsidy for this last year of the contract.”
“Under the system designed today we run all of the non-emergency work, and it allows for more ambulance hours on the streets so that when it gets busy on the emergency side the radius factor is there,” said Rockwall County EMS Chief Mitch Ownby. “The income stream paid for a vast majority of that. Subsidy paid roughly a quarter of the radius and the rest was from user fees – non emergency and emergency. The system was designed to be subsidized so it would lower tax rates, and it capitated all the non-emergency volume, and that’s what changed in the fall. Essentially, the system isn’t the system that was designed 12 years ago, and we’ve been under contract for enough years.”
According to Judge Sweet, about a year ago Rockwall County EMS came to the ESC board with a contract extension for five years with a partner, American Medical Response (AMR). The partnership offer was withdrawn when AMR ended its relationship with EMS a couple of months ago, at which point EMS began to negotiate with the ESC board to extend its contract and forgo the RFP process.
Mayor Pruitt, who is a member of the ESC Board, said the board held several meetings with EMS in regards to a new contract but couldn’t come up with an agreement to satisfy both sides, and the board unanimously voted to go through the RFP process in its last meeting on Aug. 24.
“A lot has changed in the past 20 years, and we owe it to the citizens of Rockwall County to explore what’s out there and do our due diligence with this contract negotiation,” Judge Sweet said. “We welcome and encourage Medic Rescue to submit an RFP along with any other qualified service provider. We are excited about the opportunity to move forward in the market to find the latest technology and the best options for providing service—all at the best value for residents within the county, while preserving the quality of service our residents expect and deserve.”
According to the EMS news release, the contract extension would see two new EMS station locations in Fate and Heath, which would help them improve to eight-minute response times throughout the county.
The Heath city council unanimously approved the construction of the new EMS station at 6834 S. FM 549 during its meeting on May 23 of this year. According to the minutes of the meeting, the meeting was not a public hearing although citizens were allowed to speak for or against the proposed ambulance station, with many speaking against it due to noise and traffic concerns. During yesterday’s meeting, Ambulance Services Board Member and Heath City Councilman Barry Brooks brought up his concerns regarding the timeline of the new ambulance station in Heath.
“You told us at that council meeting that within 60 days you’d be up and running in that facility,” said, “and that our numbers would be better in 60 days. It’s now 128 days, and I read today that it’s going to be 60 days after a point that you don’t know yet and only if you get this contract renegotiated with the board. So my question is why are you not out doing what you told the Heath citizens you were going to do 128 days ago?”
“That station location was a coordinated part of the system’s past plan, and that’s been continually put off,” Ownby said. “We advised them that the construction phase will take 60 days, at which point after the construction we can occupy that facility. We do have supervisors and a vehicle out there occasionally which helps somewhat, but it’s not the same as an ambulance. Your mayor advised he did want one more visible but the ambulance, not even the Expedition, will fit in that garage space. So there has to be some construction done on that facility. Construction alone for that with one year left on a contract is very difficult.”
Brooks responded, “I understand that, and I also understand that it takes 60 days for the construction you needed to do. But what I don’t understand is that you left that night and left our council with the impression that that was going to begin immediately, and citizens who were there that night that I’ve talked to today have said they thought you were going to be out there immediately. So it’s not just me who thinks this. We were left with the impression that this was something you were going to do and you haven’t done it, and to see that today that you’re waiting on an if-and-when kind of basis, I got a lot of calls about that today.”
Brooks also stated that the numbers for response times within Heath haven’t improved.
“At this point, you have about a 60 percent chance of an ambulance getting to you on time if you have an issue come up within the City of Heath, and that has not changed and our citizens are expecting that to change.”
Judge Sweet said the board was invited to submit any feedback on any items which need to be addressed in the draft of the RFP document to Civil Chief of the Rockwall County District Attorney’s Office Grant Brenna by Oct. 12. The document will then be brought back to the board on Oct. 19 for further feedback, and will be presented for consideration at the board’s next meeting on Oct. 26.
Story by Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News editor / senior reporter.
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