Commissioners split on EMS contract

Commissioner Dick Works apparently will decide whether Iola will continue to operate countywide ambulance service.
“I’m a little lukewarm” to a proposal that would have the county provide $1 million annually in a new five-year contract for Iola to operate the service, Works said Tuesday morning, noting that phone calls he had received about the issue were from callers “100 percent against the city delivering the service.”
As it stands today, County Counselor Alan Weber and Robert Johnson, Iola city attorney, will flesh out a contract for city council members and commissioners to consider later this month. The contract will call for Iola to continue to receive guaranteed run revenue of $750,000 and an additional $250,000 — the equivalent of a 2.5-mill property tax levy — for a total of $1 million. A clause in the contract will provide for inflation protection, with the Consumer Price Index as the go-to source.
Iola also would accept $189,000 the county offered to meet a shortfall projected in the first year of the current five-year contract. A provision of that revenue is it would be repaid if the city terminated its contract.
“I’m divided on the issue and want to wait until next week to  see what the contract looks like,” Works said.
He was the third of the commissioners to comment after Johnson and Weber briefly discussed the pending contract.
Initially, Commissioner Tom Williams said he was fine with the $1 million proposal — it was his — which “meets a lot of problems we’ve faced for years.
“This (proposal) saves county taxpayers money,” Williams added.
The assumption is that if the county took over emergency medical services, it would  cost about $1.4 million a year. If run revenue were $750,000, as expected, the county’s budget would bear the remainder of costs of about $650,000, or the equivalent of a tax levy of more than 6.5 mills. While the county hasn’t earmarked that much for 2015, the remainder would have to come from general fund transfers.
“That’s my position,” Williams concluded. “We have no reason, dollar-wise or for common sense” not to embrace the proposal.
Commissioner Jim Talkington disagreed.
“I think we should keep the $1 million in house,” he said. “It (countywide ambulance service) is a county function.”
In response to a concern, Johnson said the new contract would not alter ambulance response, and that ambulances would continue to be operated from stations in Humboldt and Moran, as well as Iola.
Iola Administrator Carl Slaugh added that “we’re working on other ways to deal with overtime,” rather than ignore contract provisions to run EMS from three stations.
Williams wondered about how big of a personnel pool was available locally if a change occurred with ambulance service.
“That would be a challenge,” said Slaugh.
Back on the floor, Works said “money wasn’t everything” and that he had some (unspecified) concerns about level of service provided under Iola’s watch.
“We haven’t seen the protocols and the training numbers I’ve asked for,” Works said.
Weber reminded Works that medical protocols had been delivered, but not operational protocols.
Johnson said he would ask Ryan Sell, EMS director, to provide Works with the information he sought.

IN OTHER news, commissioners:
— Completed sale of the warehouse at 410 N. State St. to Rebel Works, owned by Jeff Richards. He will pay $32,000, and accept the building as is. The county will allow access over its property to the building. Richards does a variety of metal fabrication and welding. Weber said three other parties looked at the building, but none made an offer.
— Were told by Bill King, director of Public Works, that he asked for and received three engineering proposals for annual oversight work at the landfill. Burns and McDonnell, Kansas City, has provided the service for 14 years. Annual costs recently ranged from $93,000 to $271,000, in 2009 when the latest cell was constructed. King said he was not dissatisfied with Burns & McDonnell, but thought it was good to give others an opportunity to bid on the services. Commissioners later will hear presentations from the firms.
— Agreed to have Brenda Beth, a 30-hour-a-week employee in the sheriff’s office, learn ambulance billing as a backup for Terry Call.
— Asked Sheriff Bryan Murphy to have his officers pay closer attention to farm trucks hauling grain to area elevators. Works said he noticed a truck carrying corn weighed in at 94,000 pounds. The legal limit is 80,000 pounds.