Floyd County Ambulance Commission discussion includes new AMR contract and starting new public service

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County voters recently defeated a measure to collect taxes to help pay for emergency medical services, but that doesn’t mean those services aren’t still necessary.

The Floyd County Ambulance ​Commission met Tuesday evening to talk about next steps and engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about a new contract with current ambulance service provider American Medical Response (AMR), looking at starting a public ambulance service, and also letting Nashua receive service under the current AMR contract until it expires at the end of this fiscal year.

The commission decided to recommend in favor of the Nashua agreement, and to seek a variety of contract options from AMR, including an extension of the current contract for another year at the same terms, and the prices AMR would charge for a new one-year, two-year or three-year contract.

The Ambulance Commission makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and the Charles City Council regarding ambulance service. Years ago, before the city and the county started subsidizing ambulance service, the commission made the decisions. Now, since the city and the county are contracting to help pay for the service, the commission is an advisory body only.

The current three-year contract between Floyd County, Charles City and AMR expires at the end of this fiscal year, June 30, 2023. Under that contract, the city and the county contributed $150,000 the first year ($75,000 each), $175,000 the second year ( $87,500 each) and $200,000 this current fiscal year ($100,000 each) to AMR to provide service countywide.

Ambulance Commission members agreed to recommend that the Board of Supervisors and City Council let Nashua receive service through AMR for six months, from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2023, for a payment of $10,000, to be split between the city and the county, and with the understanding that Nashua would also pay for any additional expenses.

Nashua City Clerk John Ott said the community is forming its own ambulance service and is purchasing an ambulance, but it will be a first-responder service to begin with, not transporting patients. It plans to get to the stage where it can transport, but that will depend on getting the appropriate personnel, he said.

In the interim it needs to get transportation service, and the Nashua City Council has already decided to not participate in the new ambulance service that Chickasaw County is creating, because of the cost as well as concerns about response time from New Hampton since the county service decided to not base an ambulance in Nashua.

AMR station director Dawn Staudt said AMR would probably not charge additional fees to cover Nashua for the six months, as long as it was not being asked to add extra costs such as additional personnel. She said AMR responds to calls in Nashua already, as well as into Chickasaw County when needed.

“For six months I think this is a good agreement, helping out our neighboring community,” said Supervisor Roy Schwickerath.

The Ambulance Commission is made up of representatives of the Charles City Council, Board of Supervisors, Floyd County Medical Center, the Charles City police chief and fire chief, county sheriff and Staudt, representing AMR.

Much of the meeting was spent discussing the next contract with AMR, after the current contract expires next June 30.

In initial discussions regarding the emergency medical services (EMS) tax levy vote, considerable discussion had taken place regarding the potential of creating a public ambulance service, to be run by the Charles City Fire Department or some other public group. No decision was made regarding a new service because of the lack of time before the vote occurred.

Schwickerath said Tuesday evening that if the city and county are seriously considering starting up a service, now is the time. He said the county and the city still have uncommitted American Rescue Plan Act funds that could be used toward start-up costs, and he also suggested a third funding source in addition to the city and the county.

“The hospital, actually, has a taxing ability,” he said, “and they could actually levy and help pay for ambulance service through that. That would create a three-way partnership. I think if we don’t at least consider pursuing that we really miss an opportunity.”

When asked if that would be possible, Floyd County Medical Center CEO Dawnett Willis, who is a member of the Ambulance Commission, said that’s a decision that would have to be made by the medical center board of trustees, but she would be willing to present the idea to that board.

In 2019, Floyd County voters approved changing the charter for the Floyd County Medical Center, granting its board of directors – who after the charter change became an elected board of trustees – the power to levy property taxes to support the hospital.

Schwickerath said when the charter change idea was presented to voters the medical center said it would collect $500,000 per year, and that’s what it has been collecting – but circumstances change and the trustees could increase that if they choose to.

The city is at its maximum $8.10 per $1,000 of taxable valuation for its general fund, and the county is at its maximum $3.50 per $1,000 for its general fund, Schwickerath said, but he didn’t think the medical center was anywhere near its maximum levy amount.

Discussing a new contract with AMR, Schwickerath said he couldn’t support anything more than an additional year because a completely new board of supervisors would be taking office the first of the year, and it should be making any long-term decisions regarding service.

Charles City Administrator Steve Diers, who has done much of the conferring with AMR on the contracts, said it is likely that AMR will ask for a higher subsidy with a one-year contract than it would with a longer term contract.

He said his preference would be another three-year contract with a buy-out option in case the city and county want to end it early to start their own service.

Commission member Keith Starr, a member of the Charles City Council, said he would prefer at least a two-year contract, to give them enough time to work on other options if that’s their choice.

The commission eventually voted to direct Diers to work with AMR to see if it would extend the current contract for a year, and to get prices for a new one-year, two-year or three-year contract.

The commission set its next meeting for Dec. 7 and hopes to have those AMR figures ready to discuss by then. Any new contract will need to be approved by the Charles City Council and the Floyd County Board of Supervisors as well as AMR.