The Jasper County Board of Supervisors did something Monday morning they rarely have done during a public meeting in the past years…disagree.
On October 19, 2020, during a regular monthly meeting, the board approved a bid proposal from a new ambulance service (CareMed) for the county.
Monday, in a 3-2 vote, a majority of the board rejected that proposal after having considered the finalized contract presented by CareMed ambulance service out of Newton, the only ambulance provider that bid on the service in mid-October. A representative from ASAP ambulance service, the current provider in the county, Monday explained to the board that they had essentially just forgotten about the bid procedure and contract renewal process that took place in October. That contract with the current provider, ASAP, is to expire on the last night of November 2020.
CareMed originally submitted to the county a $125,000 per year bid proposal on the service, which reflected a $33,000 to $35,000 saving per year to the county on an ambulance service as opposed to its original provider, ASAP. Two brand new, box truck type ambulances ordered straight from the assembly line and a backup ambulance were also promised to the county with the proposal, but after reviewing the final contract submitted by CareMed, three board members had issues with it, especially revolving around dispatching.
“I got the contract, and there were some things in it that I was not really happy about because it had not been mentioned in the proposal,” Board Attorney Ricky Ruffin mentioned to the Supervisors Monday morning. “After talking to them (CareMed), we talked about adding a CPI (consumer price index) for medical services to the contract for each year. I checked that and for the last few years that has been nominal, less than 2 percent. They had a 3 percent, and I told them we we’re not going to agree to that. Now, we have that part covered. They also did not have a ‘dispatch’ in the area, and the Sheriff and I talked about that. Because he has only one person on ‘911’ dispatch, he did not think he could do that without adding extra personnel.”
The current ambulance provider in the county, ASAP, has a dispatch service that runs directly in conjunction with Jasper County emergency dispatch. Board President Curtis Gray, Sr. contacted CareMed COO Stan Alford via phone during the Monday meeting, and Alford offered dispatch through Newton County. With that, according to Ruffin, Jasper County 911 calls would go through the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, to Newton County, then to CareMed ambulance service.
“Newton County’s 911 staffing is going to be responsible for dispatching to Jasper County,” asked Beat 3 Supervisor Doug Rogers during the quorum. “I want to make sure that if we have a storm on the north part of this county and Newton County is getting the influx of calls that we are going to be able to handle dispatching. That’s a big concern to me.”
Later during the meeting while Gray was pushing for the CareMed contract approval, Rogers simply said, “I have a problem with it.”
Rogers then motioned to rescind the mid-October motion approval on the CareMed proposal. Beat One Supervisor Eddie Helms followed with a second , and Beat Four Supervisor Randy Corley agreed. Gray of Beat Five and Beat Two Supervisor Sandy Stephens voted against rescinding approval of CareMed’s proposal and contract.
In addition, Helms made a motion to re-advertise for an ambulance service in the county. Rogers put forth the second, and Corley agreed. Gray and Stephens opposed.
Per the meeting Monday morning, ASAP will remain the county’s ambulance provider through the re-bidding process.