County may vote Monday to contract with private ambulance service

Published 7:31 pm Saturday, August 20, 2016

Word the Warren County Board of Supervisors could contract Monday with a private ambulance company to provide emergency medical service outside the Vicksburg city limits forced city officials to meet Friday to examine the potential effect that decision could have on the city’s budget.

The supervisors have called a special 9 a.m. Monday in the board room on the third floor of the Warren County Courthouse “to authorize the board president to sign an agreement with ASAP Ambulance Service,” according to a meeting notice emailed to The Vicksburg Post.

The announcement came as city and county officials remain at odds over how much the city should charge the county for ambulance and rescue service, and how much the county owes the city for runs outside the city the county was never billed for.

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Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Friday he learned of the meeting Thursday after talking with District 1 Supervisor John Arnold.

“John Arnold told me the Board of Supervisors had the votes to privatize ambulance and rescue and they were going to take a vote Monday,” he said. “He told me, ‘It’s not personal with me. It was a business decision.’”

Flaggs said he called the Friday meeting to put the board and department heads on notice of the potential loss of revenue and to be ready to discuss possible adjustments if the county hires a service, adding it could force the board to abandon proposed pay raises in favor of public safety.

“As a matter of priority, the service to the citizens takes priority over the raises,” he said.

The city wants to charge the county $400 per ambulance dispatch — a $100 increase over fiscal 2016 — regardless if a patient is treated. The present agreement ends Sept. 30.

According the City Accounting Director Doug Whittington, the charge was projected to bring the city an estimated $700,000 in revenue for fiscal 2017, which begins Oct. 1.

He said, however, the total would not cover the city’s costs of running the service, which ran a $1.12 million deficit in fiscal 2015, and a $759,136 deficit in fiscal 2014.

City and county officials have to reach a decision on ambulance service within the next few weeks in order to complete and approve their respective budgets by the state-mandated deadline of Sept. 15. The city will hold a public hearing on its budget Aug. 25. The county’s hearing is Sept. 5.

Arnold denied making the statement about the Monday meeting, but said the meeting “is supposed to take care of that (ambulance service).”

“I’m listening to the pros and cons and weigh it out,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of research on it; I don’t know which way it’s going to go.”

Arnold said he was “straddling the fence.” That comment was different from his statements on ambulance service earlier this month, when he said the city’s ambulance service may end up being too expensive for the county.

“It seems like for the county, we could come out better going to a private ambulance service and running our own rescue truck,” he said.

“It’s not that I like one any more than the other, because we’ve always gotten good service out of the city. It appears that it (the cost) is just getting out of hand, and it’s a whole lot about expenses. If the city’s costing us two-thirds more of what we can get private service for, then I think we have to look at that,” he said.

Another supervisor leaning toward privatization is District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, who said he has been upset the Board of Mayor and Aldermen have not met with the supervisors and discussed the ambulance issue.

“We just have not gotten a great response from the city,” Selmon said.

Board President Richard George and District 4 Supervisor John Carlisle both oppose privatization and want to stay with the city. George said he saw a contract from ASAP “and threw it away.”

District 2 Supervisor William Banks said he is still undecided.

“Right now, there are more facts to be laid on the table, and when they’re laid on the table, I’ll make a decision,” he said.

Banks said officials with Laurel-based ASAP called County Administrator John Smith after reading about dispute between the city and county over the rates for calls. He added the board never talked to ASAP representatives after the initial contact, “But they sent John papers.”

Ambulance service is considered a professional service under the state bid laws and does not have to be bid.

ASAP official Kevin Smith declined to discuss the overture, referring all comments to the county.

There are no records for an ASAP Ambulance Service with the Mississippi Secretary of State, although there are corporate filings for ASAPEMS, and A Superior Ambulance Provider LLC Lamar County, which give identical addresses in Laurel. Smith is listed as a manager for A Superior Ambulance and as vice president and secretary for ASAPEMS. The president of ASAPEMS is Robert Parker, who is also listed as a manager for A Superior Ambulance.

According to ASAPEMS’ website, the company provides ambulance service for Copiah, Jones, Jasper, Greene and George counties in Mississippi, and in Clarke and Monroe counties in Alabama.

The company also provided ambulance service in Lamar County, but was replaced Aug. 1 after the Lamar County Board of Supervisors changed providers and hired Lifeguard Ambulance.

According to an article in the Hattiesburg American, the decision came after county officials spent several months investigating ASAP in the wake of a March incident in which the company reportedly had a slow response time to pickup a man who had been burned in a house fire.

According to a March 2 article, Smith said the 35-minute delay occurred because the call came in during a busy time and the company’s three ambulances in Lamar were on other calls and a fourth had to be brought in from Jones County. Smith added he also thought the 35-minute response time was not good under normal circumstances, but said the problem was due to the hectic nature of the time period when the call came.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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