Floyd County discusses publicly-paid radio options for private AMR ambulance service

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Should AMR, the private ambulance company providing service to Charles City and the rest of Floyd County, be required to purchase its own radio equipment when the county switches to a new communication system in the next month or two, or should the county pay for the radios?

That’s a question that came up at the county Board of Supervisor’s regular meeting Monday morning.

The county is spending about $5 million to install a completely new radio system to be used by public service departments and providing new mobile and portable radios or pagers to law enforcement officers, firefighters and other public safety and emergency responders.

Existing VHF equipment will not work on the new digital system that will operate through the Iowa State Interoperable Communications System (ISICS).

The supervisors, including new member Boyd Campbell, who was attending his first meeting as a member of the board since being sworn in last week, discussed the situation with a representative of Global Medical Response, the parent company of American Medical Response (AMR).

Eric McCleery, area operations manager for GMR, said that AMR did not have it in its budget to buy new radios, especially if it is uncertain how long AMR will be in the community.

“It’s an expense that was not planned,” McCleery said, attending the board meeting remotely.

“We don’t have a desire to spend $40,000-plus on radios, then hear a year later you’re going to start your own service,” he said, referring to Charles City’s and Floyd County’s continuing efforts to find a solution to steadily increasing ambulance service costs, including discussion but no action on starting a municipal ambulance service.

McCleery added that he thinks “somebody knew this was in the works” regarding the new radios when the current AMR contract with Charles City and Floyd County was being negotiated in the spring of 2023, and it should have been brought up then.

An estimate from Motorola Solutions, which is supplying the radios to Floyd County, is a total of $32,075 for four mobile units for ambulances and eight portable units for ambulance personnel in the field. An additional $10,527 is listed from another company, Com-Tec Land Mobile Radio, for 15 pagers for AMR paramedics and EMTs to carry while on call. Total price is about $42,602.

Lt. Travis Bartz of the Sheriff’s Office said when the new county system was being planned it was decided to not buy radios for private businesses, at the time talking about four mobile radio units for AMR.

Responding to a question from Supervisor Dennis Keifer, Bartz said groups such as fire departments and law enforcement agencies that are being provided radios will sign agreements that the county retains ownership of the equipment, but the departments agree to maintain radios and pagers and fix or replace them if lost or damaged.

McCleery said AMR would likely be willing to accept the same agreement, maintaining and being responsible for the equipment, but keeping ownership with the county.

He said that in Buchanan County, the only other county in Iowa in which AMR operates, the company provided radios and the county provided the pagers, but even that expense isn’t in this year’s budget for Floyd County.

Supervisor Campbell said he thinks there’s room for compromise, but he has “a little problem” paying for equipment for a private enterprise.

Supervisor Chair Mark Kuhn said that AMR service is important to the county, and the recent county vote that turned down an EMS service support levy made it less likely that a pubic service could be started.

“This system is going live soon and we need you to be a part of it,” Kuhn said to McCleery. “I think there’s room to work this out.”

Kuhn asked County Auditor Gloria Carr to work with McCleery or other AMR representatives to see if something could be agreed to, then bring it back to the board.

Carr will become a member of the Board of Supervisors the first of the year, having just won election to represent District 1. Kuhn, the current District 1 supervisor, did not run for reelection.

The three-year contract that AMR signed with Charles City and Floyd County includes annual subsidies of $415,000 the first year that ended June 30, 2014, $427,450 in the current year that ends June 30, 2025, and $440,273.50 in the third year that will end June 30, 2026. Either party can end the contract early with 180 days notice.

Also at the meeting Monday morning, the board:

• Approved shutting the courthouse for half a day the morning of Thursday, Dec. 19, so that an active shooter drill can be run with county employees.

• Discussed a change to the county Secondary Roads Department’s 5-year construction plan because, County Engineer Jacob Page said, the state Department of Transportation had changed its budget rules to allow counties to “borrow-ahead” state funding for four years instead of three years.

That will allow the county to do four paving projects next summer instead of the three that had been planned, he said. The additional project will be paving County Road T38 from south of 110th Street to 0.4 miles north, for an estimated $250,000.