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Will Have Two Fully Staffed 24 Hour Ambulances
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - After a 20 minute executive session today, commissioners came back into the meeting and sat in solidarity as Commissioner Tim Daniel spoke for the record about the Grady Ambulance contract. This follows more than a month of discussions that have continued even after Grady signed its annual contract with the county in May.
Last week, Interim County Manager Brandon Rogers was advised by VP Bill Compton that Grady has agreed to continue the $350,000 contract with two 24 hour, fully staffed ambulances while Grady EMS is continuing its discussion about the contract that was negotiated by VP Compton in the April 28, 2020 Board of Commissioners meeting and signed by both Grady and the county on May 13, 2020.
After coming back into open session this morning, Commissioner Daniel said that there were discussions with Grady back in May about continuing the ambulance contract through this year that started last week. He said that we (as in the commissioners) negotiated for $50,000 more (than last year's contract), and it was said that nothing would change. To this point, nothing has changed, but I feel that Pike County deserves and wants two 24 hour ambulances and we are willing to pay $350,000 per year. Nothing further was said, and the meeting was adjourned.
According to the May 13, 2020 contract, the term of the agreement began on July 1, 2020 and ends on June 30, 2021. The contract states that Grady EMS will provide "two (2) fully operational emergency ambulance units dedicated for specific use for the County and one (1) additional back-up ambulance" as well as providing all needed supplies and equipment to run the ambulances. The county agreed to provide housing and facilities at two different locations rather than just one in last year's contract, and the county agreed to pay for the utilities up to $400 in the new Zebulon station. The county also made significant improvements to the Zebulon facility which is subleased to the City of Zebulon.
According the contract, the next annual review of the contract was supposed to occur no later than March 15 of next year "in order to determine proposed changes in the Annual Fee for budgeting purposes" and the agreement would automatically renew unless either party sends a notice of termination no less than 90 days prior to the end of the contract.
This termination stipulation was 60 days in last year's contract, and Pike County was actually given a notice to terminate about 60 days prior to the end of the 2019 contract. Click here to read the articles entitled, "BREAKING NEWS: Pike County Commission to Rebid Ambulance Contract" and "BREAKING NEWS: Grady Ambulance Contract To Be Amended."
To read more about this year's negotiations, scroll down to read two of Pike County Times' previous articles on the matter. This topic will likely be on the next Commission agenda at the end of the month.
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Interim County Manager Brandon Rogers advised Pike County Times by email of the following on Thursday: "As of late yesterday afternoon Grady agreed to provide the county with 2/24 hour fully staffed ambulance units while discussions over the Emergency Medical Services Agreement are made. Grady has agreed to do this at the current rate of $29,166.67 per month with the condition that if a change in the annual fee is agreed on it will be prorated to the start of the contract on July 1, 2020." Interim County Manager Rogers concluded the email by saying that this agreement would ensure that the county is fully covered during the holiday weekend and Grady and Pike County time to come to an agreement.
The contract that was negotiated with VP Bill Compton in the April 28, 2020 Board of Commissioners meeting and signed on May 13, 2020 is for $350,000 per year and a monthly payment of $29,166.67. This ensured a 12 minute or less response time for Code 1 EMS calls. Their current response time is at 11 minutes and 35 seconds for the month of June according to the June 29 print out from E911.
[Note from the Editor: It sounds as if Mr. Compton is wanting to change the contract that was just signed in May after telling commissioners that he was ok with the terms in the meeting and that nothing would change.]
Another item of note is that the county made improvements at the Zebulon Fire Station on a facility that we do not own such as cleaning, resealing, and polishing floors, cleaning and improving old fixtures in the restroom, repairing and replacing worn or broken ceiling tiles, and replacing any exterior bulbs that were not working. Grady agreed to provide Best locking system for the bedrooms and storage room for supplies and provided two shoreline connections for the ambulances at the rear of the building. Pike County Times has not obtained the final amount that was spent for these improvements. Original estimates were under $1,000.
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!
By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Pike County Times has learned that Grady Ambulance is considering a change to the contract that was agreed upon and signed after the April 28, 2020 Board of Commissioners meeting. In that meeting, Grady agreed to provide two Advanced Life Support staffed and fully equipped ambulances to respond to 911 calls daily in Pike County as well as one additional back-up ambulance. The county agreed to pay $350,000 per year along with housing and utilities up to $400 per month for the Zebulon station. Grady also agreed that response time would be kept under 12 minutes.
Through open records this week, it was found that Grady has discussed reducing Pike County’s two 24 hour ambulances to one 24 hour ambulance and one 12 hour back up ambulance.
Pike County Times is going to walk through the history of Grady as our ambulance provider, discuss the April 28, 2020 Commission meeting as well as the current written contract, and then show a list of questions that was sent to Grady Ambulance earlier today.
History
Grady won the ambulance contract for Pike County back in 2015. In a 3-2 vote with Commissioners Tommy Powers and Tim Daniel opposed, the majority of the county commission chose to go with Grady EMS because they were the low bidder. The agreement was for a 1 year contract renewable for 5 years that would end on June 30, 2020. The service would provide paramedic and state certified personnel to staff and serve on two ambulances that would be housed inside of Pike County on a 24 hour a day/7 days a week/365 days per year basis with an additional ambulance that would be in Pike County Monday through Friday for 12 hours per day.
In 2017, Grady EMS asked for and received a reduction in the ambulance contract. Grady EMS asked the county to amend the contract to include only the two full-time ambulances on a 24 hour/7 days a week/365 days per year basis and one back up ambulance as needed with a reduction in Pike County’s fee from $275,000 to $250,000. This eliminated the permanent 12 hour ambulance that had been a part of the original contract. It was stated in the contract that Grady EMS would “utilize its regional resources and mutual aid agreements for exceptional demand requirements.”
In 2019, Grady notified Pike County government that it would be terminating the current ambulance contract. Grady provided 60 days’ notice to the county that its service to the county will end on June 30, 2019. Two 24/7 ambulances were what was in the contract at that time. Options for a reduction and prices were as follows:
•1-24/7 ALS Transport Ambulance and 1-12/7 ALS Transport Ambulance Peak times are defined as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Subsidy: $250,000
•1-24/7 ALS Transport Ambulance, 1-12/7 ALS Transport Ambulance and 1-12/7 Quick Response Vehicle (QRV). The QRV would be on duty at night when the 12 transport hour unit is off duty.
Subsidy: $350,000
•2-24/7 ALS Transport Ambulances
Subsidy: $500,000
County Manager Bobby Bickley advised Pike County Times on May 10, 2019 that Grady had agreed to provide two 24 hour/7 day a week ambulances and one additional back-up for Pike County for $300,000 per year. This was $50,000 more than than the contract that was supposed to end in 2020. Pike County agreed to add two years onto the current ambulance contract which would have extended Grady's time here in Pike County through 2022.
You can read about this as well as seeing links to this history by clicking here:
pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSambulance5.2.19.html.
Where Are We Today?
Two months ago, Grady made a request for $375,000 for two (2) fully operational emergency ambulance units dedicated for specific use for the county and one (1) additional backup ambulance. In the April 28, 2020 meeting of the Board of Commissioners, commissioners negotiated during the meeting itself with Vice President Bill Compton speaking on behalf of Grady Ambulance. Commissioners were adamant that Pike County keep 2 full-time ambulances. At one point in the meeting, Commissioner Tim Guy made a counter offer for approval for $350,000 rather than $375,000. Vice President Bill Compton spoke and said that would be acceptable if the county would pay for their utilities at the Zebulon Fire Station where they made preparations with the county to move.
Our legal minutes from the meeting state as follows: “…Mr. Bill Compton replied we can do the $350,000 as long as we can continue with the building and the utilities associated with the building. Commissioner Daniel asked if we go with that offer will anything change with service. Mr. Compton replied no, and noted in the contract it includes that if Grady is successful in adding contiguous or nearby counties in the Central Georgia region for the provision of emergency medical services, Grady will present options for creation of a regionalized system to include the negotiation of lowering the current annual compensation from the county. However, at no time will the services offered to the county be diminished.”
The 2020 contract for $350,000 per year with the county paying utilities at the Zebulon location was approved in a 4-1 vote with Commissioner James Jenkins opposed. He stated in the discussion before the vote that he wanted this put out to bid. You can read, “BREAKING NEWS: Grady Ambulance Proposes Changes to Their Contract” by clicking here and read about the April 28, 2020 Board of Commissioners meeting by clicking here.
Pike County’s current contract states that Pike County will pay $350,000 per year with Grady paying no rent or utilities unless the utilities at the new Zebulon station run over $400.
Section III part a says that the contractor will provide two fully operational emergency ambulance units and one additional back up ambulance for the county’s specific use.
Section II part b says that the contractor “will provide two (2) Advanced Life Support (“ALS”) staffed and fully equipped ambulances scheduled daily to respond to 911 calls throughout Pike County” and “Each ambulance crew will include personnel necessary to staff one ALS ambulance with a minimum of one (1) person with a Georgia Paramedic license and one (1) person with a Georgia Emergency Medical Technician license.”
Section XIV says that this agreement constitutes the entire agreement and that, “Any changes, amendments or modifications to this Agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties.” Oral agreements and emails are not binding according to the contract.
Click here to read the contract: www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/GradyContract2020.pdf. [Note from the Editor: Highlighting in orange is from my personal copy of the contract.]
Pike County Times sent an email to Grady EMS earlier today in order to find out some answers to questions. Among those questions are the following:
Is Grady looking at instituting any changes whatsoever from the two (2) 24 hour ambulances and one back-up ambulance contract that was discussed at the April 28, 2020 meeting of the Board of Commissioners and signed contract from May 13, 2020?
If so, how and on what grounds?
What is the definition of proper staffing for ambulances, and how does that factor into Pike County's current contract?
There were seven instances where mutual aid was required between May 1 and June 28 when we were supposed to have two 24 hour ambulances. The shortest response time was 25 minutes with the longest at about 3 hours. With this in mind, is Grady still considering a reduction to our ambulance service as I have been advised?
Saturday, June 27, was not a good day for those needing ambulance service in Pike County. One truck (ambulance) was up and running and the second had someone call in sick and could only respond as a backup. We had 5 calls on Saturday and one emergency call in which we could not obtain mutual aid from Community Ambulance or Meriwether, Spalding or Lamar Counties.
How is Grady going to be providing the service that Pike County citizens thought they were paying for if we only have one 24 hour ambulance with one 12 hour backup?
Our legal minutes from the meeting state as follows: “…Mr. Bill Compton replied we can do the $350,000 as long as we can continue with the building and the utilities associated with the building. Commissioner Daniel asked if we go with that offer will anything change with service. Mr. Compton replied no, and noted in the contract it includes that if Grady is successful in adding contiguous or nearby counties in the Central Georgia region for the provision of emergency medical services, Grady will present options for creation of a regionalized system to include the negotiation of lowering the current annual compensation from the county. However, at no time will the services offered to the county be diminished.”
How is Grady justifying a change in the ambulance contract based on this very plain discussion in the meeting?
How were the commissioners and the county manager advised of this change prior to its upcoming implementation on July 1?
How can Grady justify this change through its current contract?
Feel free to talk about metrics and response time as well as the breach of contract that can only take place, according to section XI, if the average response for code 1 calls county-wide is more than 12 minutes for “two consecutive months” or the 30 day termination clause “for cause” or a “demand for a cure” written in section XII.
Follow up questions included:
What is a back-up ambulance there for?
Is it there in case one of the regular ambulances breaks down?
Why would we have three ambulances (two 24 hour and a backup) if we aren't going to utilize two of them?
Closing
Pike County Commissioners have been adamant that we have two ambulances in the ambulance contract each year when it came up for renewal. Two months ago was no different than any other year because Pike County could have chosen one 24 hour ambulance and one 12 hour ambulance for less money last year and did not because citizens have been outspoken in wanting two 24 hour ambulances.
How and when the county is going to address this matter is not for certain, but with a new year beginning on July 1, Pike County Times expects to see this dealt with sooner rather than later.
Pike County Times sent the email to Grady EMS at 10:42 a.m. and the follow up at 1:52 p.m. with notification in the first email that this could go to print as early as 2 p.m. As of 5 p.m. there has been no response. Pike County Times will update this article with Grady's response if and when it is received.
Thank you to First Bank of Pike for sponsoring Pike County Times’ Breaking News Alerts! First Bank of Pike has been serving customers in Pike County and the surrounding area since 1901 and offers Personal and Business banking with a personal touch. Services include checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and IRA’s. Mobile Banking and Bill Payment services are also available! Click here for more. Please let First Bank of Pike know that you appreciate their sponsorship of Breaking News Alerts on Pike County's only FREE online newspaper!
If you want to find out about how you can get Breaking News Alerts, click here. Thanks for reading and supporting Pike County Times.com!