Ambulance service contract on hold until questions answered

By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com

With questions still needing to be answered, the Bucyrus Health and Safety Committee opted to put the new contract with the Central Joint Ambulance District and Life Support on hold.

New Washington’s Central Joint Ambulance District (CJAD) representative Steve Aichholz attended Thursday’s joint committee meeting to try to dig up some answers from the Bucyrus administration itself on the issue.

Bucyrus City Service-Safety Director Jeff Wagner noted that when he met with Thom Durbin, the mutual aid between the city’s ambulance and Life Support would be to respond to third calls within the city from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Wagner also noted that the last time he had talked with Durbin that it had changed from calls within the city to the full district on third calls during those hours.

“This is not what I presented to Council,” Wagner said. “There are still things that we would like to see that Thom hasn’t done in the three years that they have operated as the ambulance service provider for the district.”

Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser added that there is no animosity between the city and the CJAD, but the city needed to look out for its best interests.

Wagner asked if Life Support could pull in other squads from their operations outside of the district in the way that LifeStar did when he served as Bucyrus’ representative on the CJAD.

Aichholz noted that he was not sure if that would be possible as he didn’t know the entire scope of Life Support’s operations.

Aichholz added that mutual aids need to be in writing and in place before the new contract gets signed. He then asked about Bucyrus’ future involvement within the CJAD.

“Is there a push in the city within the next three years to do your own service?” Aichholz asked. “That seems to be where a lot of the tension within the CJAD is coming from.”

Before an answer could be given newest council member Dan Ross interjected.

“I don’t understand. How do we vote on something when all of the parties can’t get their items together?” Ross said.

“If questions can’t be answered we can’t move forward,” Wagner added.

Aichholz added that the CJAD needs to start hammering Life Support to get the questions that are being asked by both city and CJAD to be answered. He noted that Life Support is supposed to be getting the mutual aid list together of other emergency services that would be provided to the Central Joint Ambulance District and Life Support.

Council President Sis Love spoke about the contract not being truly a zero subsidy contract.

“It is not a zero subsidy. With the safety services levy we have to pay Bucyrus Fire Department to be on call, we have taken on quite a burden,” Love said.

Before stepping down Aichholz said he would get a copy of the latest contract to Ratliff on top of the CJAD needing to get mutual aid in place.

The item was placed on hold until more information is gathered.

The current contract with Life Support Ambulance Service in the CJAD expires Nov. 30 of this year.

The Health and Safety Committee also approved to send the junk cars ordinance to council. If passed by council, responsible parties could be subject to a minor misdemeanor ticket with a maximum fine of $150 plus court costs. The violations could continue for every 30 days that the junk vehicle is not moved.

The outdoor retail and alcohol sales in the public right of way took another tiny step Thursday.

Legislation which would allow for a business to use up to six feet of sidewalk space perpendicular with the exterior of their building for retail or dining usage was approved and sent to the Planning Commission for approval.

If the current legislation goes through, prior to being approved for the sidewalk usage, a business would have to submit plans to the Bucyrus Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). If the plan is approved by the BZA, the board would send its recommendations to council for the final approval.

The Platting Committee agreed that alcohol sales could not occur on Sundays, but could occur during operating hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Economic Development Committee approved the Tax Incentive Review Council recommendations. The recommendations refer to the tax abatement/exemption fees with BPT due to the abatement being personal property taxes, which were phased out in 2006. As a result, the abatement/exemption needs to be modified for monitoring fees.