BENTONVILLE -- Southeast Benton County may be served by Mercy Emergency Medical Service in January after the idea was forwarded out of the Finance Committee to the Committee of the Whole.
A retooled agreement that cut some items and lowered the first-year cost was presented to the committee during a meeting Thursday.
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The Benton County Finance Committee will continue business from the Thursday night meeting, including funding possibilities for courthouse facilities, during a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the Benton County Administration Offices, 215 E. Central in Bentonville.
Source: Staff Report
Bob Patterson, director of Mercy Emergency Medical Services, said the group sharpened pencils in discussions with officials and revisited the number of calls they expected to make. The operation will be overseen by Mercy personnel instead of having a dedicated management position, so a manager position was removed from the first-year estimate.
The county will look at buying a demonstration unit ambulance in order to save on costs and get the unit to the county in time to start service, said Marc Trollinger, fire marshal.
The retooled plan cut $455,000 in costs, leaving a roughly $770,000 cost for its initial year, according to numbers provided by Trollinger. The county would buy equipment and outfit ambulances. Mercy would run the service.
The 24-hour staffing is the true cost, Patterson said. He based his part of the plan on 270 trips where a person was transported by ambulance each year. There might be one call in 24-hours. There might be far more.
"That is the cost of this. It's the state of readiness," Patterson said.
The plan wasn't without challenge. Brett Selvidge, vice president of Samaritan Emergency Medical Service, told board members he hadn't been able to respond to the request for qualifications. He contacted the county about providing options for them in February, Selvidge said. He didn't find out about the April request for qualification process until recently, Selvidge told the committee.
His cost would be much lower than Mercy proposed and his group would provide the ambulances, he told the group.
Members debated whether they could look at other options late in the process.
Emergency medical services fall under a professional service, attorney George Spence told the committee. The process is not about bidding, but the qualifications of the provider, he told the committee.
"I'm all for saving money," said Tom Allen, committee chairman, told Selvidge. "I really wish you would have been here before."
The county is running out of time, Allen said.
Quizzed by committee members Marshall Watson, director of the Office of Emergency Management, said there had been discussions with Mercy, Lowell and Rogers. The county website had five downloads of the request for proposals, Watson said, but there had been only one proposal from Mercy.
Committee members talked about opening different geographical areas for bid on 2017 service.
Some committee members held open the concept of a county-run service in the future. The Mercy plan would house the southeast operation at the Hickory Creek Fire Department. Benton County would own the ambulances, although until it can purchase two, Mercy may supplement the county's with its own.
Although Mercy would provide the service, the service would be licensed through Benton County with the option to take over the service later. However, Trollinger told the committee, the county has to have an ambulance in order to get the license.
"It's all about purchasing that ambulance," Trollinger said.
If the county decided to go with Selvidge's firm later then the ambulances could be put into use in the fire service, Watson told the committee.
"They won't go to waste," Watson said.
A vote on the issue was not unanimous.
Allen, Joel Jones and Kurt Moore voted for the Mercy plan. Barry Moehring and Mary Lou Slinkard voted against it.
Moehring told board members he objected to the plan on the basis of the bidding process. Two other groups had showed interest but for whatever reason never submitted a proposal, Moehring said.
The Finance Committee directed county officials to continue discussions with Mercy and forwarded the issue to the Committee of the Whole.
NW News on 08/07/2015