Critical condition : Ambulance agreement creates wedge in city-county relationship
Posted on Saturday, March 8, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/62936/
County Judge Jerry Hunton said he’s grown impatient waiting for the city of Fayetteville to sign the interlocal agreement with the county and small towns for ambulance service.
After two and a half years and a lot of money spent, he said, he felt it was time to let the city know what’s at stake.
In a letter to Mayor Dan Coody, Hunton said the attitude of some aldermen threaten the relationship between the city and county and may bring an end to some of the projects they currently cooperate on.
“ Due to this impasse, I am obliged to convey via this letter that all the issues and projects on which historically we have cooperated with the city of Fayetteville are now in jeopardy, ” he wrote.
In the letter, obtained by the Northwest Arkansas Times Friday afternoon through the Freedom of Information Act, Hunton lists the partnerships between the city and the county, including agreements over the county jail, community sewer systems, sex offender software, the gun range, animal control, the emergency operations center and the 911 dispatch system. He also lists partner- ships between the county road and city street departments, including a recent deal that saved the city from having to bore under Wyman Road to put in a sewer line. The city saved about $ 100, 000.
“ Partnerships are a twoway street and it’s been a dead end road with them, ” Hunton said of the City Council. “ They’ve pushed us into a corner. ”
Hunton also expressed his disappointment with certain members of the City Council, specifically Shirley Lucas and Lioneld Jordan, both members of the ambulance committee.
Hunton said both aldermen not only ignored the recommendations of the police chief and fire chief during a council meeting last Tuesday, but seemed to ignore everyone who spoke, including the small town mayors.
He further expressed disappointment with Jordan, claiming he looked down and continued to write when Hunton and others spoke.
Hunton said he feels like the city has “ slammed the door” in the county’s face.
Jordan said he did not intend to be disrespectful while listening to people speak at Tuesday’s meeting.
“ I’m not trying to be disagreeable. I do take some offense to Hunton saying I wasn’t paying attention when I was taking notes on what he was saying, ” he said.
Lucas said the committee members and Hunton have a different way of looking at the interlocal agreement.
“ I respect his opinion, ” she said. “ I’m sorry he doesn’t respect our study on it. ”
Hunton concludes his letter by saying, “ I hope you will understand that the county’s issue is not with the people of Fayetteville but with their elected council members who are not willing to work with the county on the most important issue of all, our countywide ambulance system. ”
Coody said he wasn’t surprised by Hunton’s letter. “ I’m disappointed that it’s come to this, ” he said. “ But I agree with Judge Hunton that the city and county have been good partners and need to continue that partnership. ” Coody said it seems obvious that the interlocal agreement has been tweaked in order to answer some of the council’s concerns. “ Every concern has been addressed, ” he said. “ I can’t guess why there is such reluctance to seriously consider this. ”
In a response letter to Hunton, Coody said he shares his frustration and supports the city’s participation in the interlocal agreement. The city benefits from partnerships with the county, he said, and if the county chose to reevaluate those partnerships, it could be very costly for the city.
In an e-mail to Coody, Police Chief Greg Tabor defines how costly it could be for the city if it didn’t contract with the county for booking prisoners into the county’s detention center.
Tabor said Fayetteville booked in 5, 608 people in 2007 at a cost of $ 48. 40 per booking, a total cost of $ 271, 427. 20. The price rose to $ 50 per booking in 2008. The county charges everyone else $ 50 per day, rather than per booking, the police chief said. “ The average stay for our arrestees is seven days, so if they applied the same rules to us as they do to everyone else, the average arrest would cost us $ 350, a seven-fold increase in what we pay now ” Tabor said. The yearly cost to Fayetteville in that circumstance would be $ 1, 962, 000. “ This would be approximately $ 1, 662, 000 more
than we have budgeted, ” he said.
That contract with the county will be re-negotiated at the end of the year.
“ In my opinion, the county holds all the cards in this deal, ” Tabor said. “ I do not think getting back in the jail business by building a new jail is feasible, nor is just letting the criminals run the streets. ”
Coody asks Hunton to give the city one more chance to consider the agreement before reevaluating the partnerships with the county.
“ I feel certain that the City Council will do the right thing for both Fayetteville’s and Washington County’s citizens, ” he wrote in his letter. “ If necessary, I will break a tie in order to protect our emergency services and our government’s relationship. ”
The council is scheduled to discuss the agreement at it’s agenda setting session Tuesday.
Jordan said the full council will vote on the issue at the next meeting on March 18, but he stands by his position that there are issues with the interlocal agreement, including the fact that the city of Springdale is not involved.
“ If you put Springdale in there it spreads the cost out and cuts the risk to the city of Fayetteville, ” he said.
Jordan said he is concerned about the city’s liability and the loss of control the city would incur by going to a seven-member board. As it is now, he said, CEMS has to come before the council to ask for money, whereas a board could come back and say this is what the rates are going to be.
“ All we’re saying is leave the system in place that’s there now, until we have time to make sure we’re making the right decision, ” he said.