Three companies have offered to provide ambulance services in Walker County.
Commissioner Bebe Heiskell accepted bids from Angel EMS, American Medical Response and Puckett EMS during a meeting Thursday afternoon. The county has not yet accepted any of the offers. Fire Chief Randy Camp said he expects they will need three or four days to make a decision.
Walker County has operated its own ambulance service from 2010 until now.
County records show they have lost an average of $137,000 a year on the service, though Finance Officer Gregory McConnell said the cost has actually been worse for the county. The Walker County Road Department covers the EMS' maintenance, the fire department covers overhead expenses and sales tax revenue covers the cost of buying new equipment.
During Thursday's meeting, Heiskell shared the bid details.
Officials from American Medical Response, who say they provide EMS services in 40 states, did not give Heiskell a written proposal. Instead, they mailed her a flash drive. The commissioner didn't know during Thursday's meeting what type of offer she was receiving, but she said Camp will take a look at it and tell her what the offer is.
"I wish they gave me a written proposal so I could acknowledge it," she said.
Angel EMS, meanwhile, offered to provide ambulance services to Walker County in exchange for $210,000 a year. CEO Dewayne Wilson said the company would also pay the county the fair market value for the emergency equipment the county currently uses - including computers, hand-held radios, a Ford Ranger and a Ford F-150.
Wilson expects the equipment to cost about $1 million. He also has offered to try to collect money from people who were transported in an ambulance the last couple of years and never paid for the service.
The county's most recent financial audit shows that, as of September 2014, people owed the county about $7 million for ambulance rides.
Much of that money is simply the nature of the ambulance business. Some people who need ambulances cannot afford to pay. But of the money that Angel EMS can retrieve from that $7 million figure, Wilson said, the county will receive 60 percent.
Puckett EMS offered Thursday to provide ambulance services to Walker County for $250,000 a year. The company would also pay the county $1.5 million for its emergency equipment. Puckett EMS would keep whatever money of that $7 million it could retrieve. Puckett EMS is certified with the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services.
Wilson said Angel EMS is in the process of receiving that accreditation.
A Puckett EMS vice president said he would charge riders who call 911 a base rate of $850 a ride, plus $12 per mile. Wilson said he would charge a base rate of $950, plus $16.50 per mile.
Right now, ambulance riders pay the county a base rate of $1,100, plus $20 per mile.
Heiskell said last month she would give the ambulance service to Hutcheson Medical Center, but that deal dissolved. Heiskell thought the bankrupt hospital would pay her $2 million to control the service, while members of the hospital's board believed they were getting the service for free.
Event permits
The Walker County planning commission approved an ordinance Thursday night to mandate that people in the county get event permits when they are expecting to draw a large gathering.
Sheriff Steve Wilson first asked to make these permits mandatory when he heard that a motorcycle rally in Catoosa County was cancelled because the event organizers did not fill out the proper paperwork. Much of Walker County's permit application language will come from the Catoosa County ordinance.
Wilson said law enforcement officials have not been able to get into certain events at Cherokee Farms on Old Mineral Springs Road in years past. At times, he said, there have only been two security officers trying to keep track of about 2,000 party goers.
"That is not safe when you have that many people at the events," he said. "That's not acceptable."
The ordinance for these permits will now go to Heiskell, who will decide whether to sign off on the plan at a future commission meeting.
Contact Staff Writer Tyler Jett at tjett@times freepress.com or at 423-757-6476.