By James Massara
A letter from Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser was read to members of the Central Joint Ambulance District stating the city administration’s intent for Bucyrus to provide its own ambulance services, starting in January 2019.
The letter states, “The City of Bucyrus is planning on offering EMS services to its residents and all other areas that are willing to accept our services as of January 1, 2019.” A copy of the letter may be found on the Crawford County Now Facebook page.
In a phone interview, Reser said the topic of Bucyrus providing its own ambulance services has been an ongoing conversation for approximately three years.
“We’ve had issues with the current contract,” Reser said. “And the city wants to explore its options on how to better serve its citizens.”
When asked by members of the board how and why city officials plan on providing their own services, Bucyrus Council President Sis Love said specifics haven’t been worked out yet.
Love added the board
members should have received a copy of the letter prior to the meeting. None of the board members claimed to have received the letter beforehand. Bucyrus Councilman Steve Pifer said he received the letter the morning of the meeting and was unaware of it before that.
District Board President Jamie Sherk said he received a recording of a conversation of city officials discussing ambulance services and he asked if the letter on leaving the district was a product of the meeting. Sherk said Bucyrus Fire Chief Jay Keller allegedly and profanely said in the recording he was going to tell the townships to worry about themselves.
Love said no public meetings were held on the topic.
Sherk pointed to Bucyrus Law Director Rob Ratliff and said he was present at the meeting held that was being recorded.
Ratliff replied by saying he was unaware of any recording due to it not being an official meeting.
Sherk said the recording was dropped of at his residence and he was not the one who recorded it.
Reser said unofficial meetings like the one asked about occurred many times over the past three years.
“Many unofficial general meetings are held to discuss many things,” Reser said. “The safety director, law director and myself discuss how the city administration feels about various topics.”
He said the decision is not a personal attack on the townships.
“Our goal is not is not to leave the townships high and dry,” he said. “Our plan is to have a plan that they can benefit from if they choose to. We respect the people in the townships and want them to have emergency services available.”
Reser said Galion and Polk Township have an example of what types of partnerships he hopes to build with the townships.
Multiple members of the board asked how the city plans to sustain itself when the majority of lost revenue comes from Bucyrus residents, according to Life Support Team Inc. owner Tom Durbin.
Durbin said his company is paid on a fee for service basis and receives no subsidy tax money from the public municipalities involved in the joint district contract. He said the patients transported by his service pay him through Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance or out of pocket.
He added that he receives the same amount of revenue from the rural and city residents despite two- to three-times more emergency runs take place in Bucyrus. He said the majority of non-collects of people not able to pay for the service come from Bucyrus.
“We run approximately a $600,000 deficit on 911 calls,” Durbin said. “We make the majority of our revenue on subsidized non-emergency transports from nursing homes and hospitals.”
The joint board, including Bucyrus, motioned to extend the current contract with Life Support team through Dec. 31, 2018.
Sherk said the board will have a plan to continue without Bucyrus if necessary and the plans currently would include Life Support.
Bucyrus City Council would have to approve leaving the joint district and taking on its own ambulance services before it could happen.
Reser said he wants to have a plan set shortly after the first of the upcoming year.
@JamesMassaraCCN