Plea for agreement
Posted on Saturday, February 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/62281/
Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton made a plea to the Fayetteville City Council on Thursday night regarding approval of an interlocal ambulance agreement.
“ I can’t think of anything more important than getting this approved, ” he said during the Quorum Court meeting.
The county and nine smaller cities have voted to be a part of the agreement, which would turn Central Emergency Medical Service into the exclusive provider of all emergency and non-emergency ambulance runs.
The Fayetteville Ambulance Committee this week decided not to join the interlocal agreement with the county, but to leave the existing ambulance service as it is while looking into available alternatives.
The Fayetteville City Council is set to decide on the city’s involvement with the interlocal agreement at its next regular meeting Tuesday.
Hunton made his plea to the Fay- etteville City Council after the Quorum Court voted to re-approve the agreement because of an added statute. Arkansas Attorney General Justin McDaniel has approved it based on that statute, which requires the county to publish a notice to have a public hearing to establish what the fee is going to be.
Cities that have already approved the agreement based on its initial legal form are Elkins, Farmington, Goshen, Greenland, Johnson, Lincoln, Prairie Grove, West Fork and Winslow. Those cities will need to re-approve it with the new provisions.
Hunton said the issue of the interlocal ambulance agreement is about lives, not politics or money. He referred to people who live 20 miles from the nearest hospital and asked the council to think about what they would want in order to save their lives.
“ This is not politics. This is way beyond politics. I hope they hear my appeal, ” he said. “ I’d like to get this thing taken care of. ”
He also spoke of the paramedics and CEMS personnel who are living in uncertainty.
“ We’ve got to bring closure to this, ” he said.
Hunton said the county and city have had a long history of cooperation.
“ Why we’ve recently come to an impasse, I don’t know, ” he said. “ Where is the spirit of cooperation ?”
Hunton said the council sees it only as a cost issue.
“ Let’s say they found a golden company that saved them money. The rest of the county, because we’d no longer have cooperation with Fayetteville, is left with the possibility of no ambulance service, ” he said.
Hunton said having a regional ambulance service is crucial.
“ This is so important to people out in the county, ” he said. “ I can’t think of anything more important. ”
Mayor Dan Coody agreed that the city and county have relied in the past on their cooperation.
“ The city of Fayetteville and Washington County have had a long-standing, friendly and productive relationship. I think it’s important for that relationship to be sustained, ” he said. “ Also, the health, safety and welfare of the citizens both within the city and our neighbors outside the city, which we rely on for a lot of our income, are the main reason we exist as a government.
“ We need to make sure our emergency services operate as effectively as they can. ”
Coody said the full council needs to discuss the issue.
“ I think it’s time for the conversation to come to the full council so everyone can understand what the ramifications are of the different directions, the different options that are available to us, ” he said.
Becky Stewart, executive director of Central EMS, said she would like to see the interlocal agreement signed and a regional ambulance serve both the city and the county.
“ It’s a sharing of resources, basically, ” she said. “ It would be a significant duplication of resources if we had to have two services, and it would increase the cost.
“ Sharing resources helps to decrease and manage the cost and provide a better service. ”
Stewart said she senses some frustration among the organization’s 55 full-time and 50 part-time employees.
“ They would like to see a conclusion, ” she said. “ Our perspective is to keep doing business, keep answering the 911 phone and keep running calls and doing a great job of it. ”