Board looks to increase ambulance service
With calls to 911 skyrocketing, Marshall County is seeking to obtain more ambulance coverage in a new contract proposal.
“We were slammed with ambulance calls over the 4th of July weekend,” said 911 director Stacy Reed. “I get complaints when they call for an ambulance and don’t get one.”
The contract for ambulance service is up for renewal, and Requests for Proposals are expected to come in soon. CareMed currently has the contract.
District 2 supervisor Eddie Dixon urged the county add more ambulances to its contractual agreement because of so many accidents in his district in areas like Taska Road and Highway 311 at Highway 72.
District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor said the county needs an ambulance for each of the five supervisor districts plus one extra.
County administrator Larry Hall said he has discussed the option of adding ambulance staff to the county payroll. The problem is not with insufficient ambulances but getting crews.
“You could compete with other counties if you give them insurance and retirement,” he said.
The ambulance service provider would provide equipment under such a plan.
“You could bid it both ways,” he said.
Requests for Proposals could provide the ambulances and management of county employees or provide everything, including the company’s own staffing.
“As county employees, it would be easier to staff them (the ambulances) and give the medical staff and drivers an incentive to join the team, Hall said.
District 1 supervisor Charles Terry said if the county established its own ambulance service as does DeSoto County, administrative costs would have to be considered.
“We’re having trouble manning three ambulances,” he said. “How are we going to man five? On a given day all ambulances will be busy. I agree with one station per district.”
Hall said he wants to get bids advertised as quickly as possible.
Reed said the busiest time for calls is in the daytime.
“We are getting slammed,” she said.
Emergency Management coordinator Leland Reed asked what the liability to the county would be in putting its employees in the company’s ambulance.
Supervisor’s report
A proposal to seek a new place for the Potts Camp Library was discussed by District 5 supervisor Ronnie Joe Bennett. He said a proposal to buy the property currently leased for the library is not expected to materialize. Another site may be useful for both the library and a station for ambulance service, he said.
The property also offers a potential for expansion of the building, he said.
Bennett asked the board to take over and pave a short section of road off Hubbard Road. If the county assumes the section that goes up a steep hill, the county could pave it and keep the road from washing out, he said. The county would have to get easements from the property owners. A number of older residents live at the top of that hill and cannot keep the road from washing out, he said.
In other business, supervisors:
• approved a motion to add $350,000 in the new fiscal year budget of the sheriff’s department to increase the pay of patrolling deputies.
• authorized payment of $161,291 to J.P. Corporation for work on the new justice court complex.
• approved a request by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to post a Mississippi Landmark permit sign at the job site of the old Rosenwald School on Issac Chapel Road.