Deadline es for city to take over EMS zone in Augusta
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - We’re learning more about the City of Augusta’s Procurement Department and its decision on the ambulance plan.
Commissioners Catherine Smith McKnight, Sean Frantom, and Brandon Garrett stated the special called meeting to discuss the EMS Zone started late and was canceled about 10 minutes due to not having enough commissioners present.
You need at least seven to have a quorum, and the mayor can count as a person if attendance is lacking. With that, only five commissioners and the mayor were present for the Zoom meeting.
Everyone present in the meeting voted no to Thursday’s motion from procurement to go with AmeriPro including Commissioners Garrett, Frantom, Guilfoyle, Mason, McKnight, and the Mayor.
Everyone absent voted no to a one-year deal with Gold Cross EMS including Commissioners Scott, Williams, Lewis, Johnson, and Pulliam.
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According to authorities, Gold Cross EMS is indeed applying for the EMS Zone for Richmond County.
A statement from the office of Mayor Garnett Johnson, says, “Securing a contract with an EMS provider is an ongoing issue that Mayor Johnson’s istration inherited, and the istration hoped a decision would be made prior to the Mayor taking office. This morning, there was a special called meeting to discuss how to proceed with the ERZ application. Unfortunately, the meeting did not happen as there were not enough commissioners present to constitute a quorum.”
The statement continues, “Regrettably, Augusta-Richmond County did not submit an application. Applying for the zone would have given the City of Augusta an opportunity to contract with a provider of its choosing and to hold that provider able. The City of Augusta’s emergency response zone provider is now at the discretion of the Georgia Department of Public Health.”
The mayor remains focused on ensuring the contracted provider is responsible and able to Augusta-Richmond County citizens should they find themselves in need of emergent care.
“Unfortunately we did not get that done, therefore, our fate lies in the hands in the hands of the Department of Public Health. Once a zone provider is selected by DPH, this process starts all over. The commission then has to determine if there will be or not be a subsidy amount, so we will have to then come to with whoever that zone provider is and contract to provide ambulance service to our consituants,” said Johnson.
Thursday’s final motion is five to five, ending with a tie-breaker of a no vote for the AmeriPro contract.
Augusta fire chief, Antonio Burden, voiced his for the Atlanta-based company, AmeriPro, as the vendor to go within an email.
But others had concerns, for example, the company hasn’t even been in business for five full years. And they were asking for more money than Gold Cross did in the first place.
At the end of the day, it came down to a split 5 to 5 vote, where Mayor Johnson acted as the tiebreaker and voted down the deal with AmeriPro.
A one-year deal with Gold Cross then also failed. So as of now, it’s still on a month-to-month basis.
We caught up with the mayor and asked why he voted no.
“I’ve always been a er of local business, in that, the amount of money that’s being submitted and offered by AmeriPro, far exceeds anything that we’ve given our local vendor the opportunity to service our zone. For the past many years, Gold Cross has expressed to the community that the subsidy amount is not enough,” Johnson says.
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