City ambulance service officially in the works

MUNCIE, Ind. — The city of Muncie is moving ahead with creating its own ambulance service.

Muncie City Council is set to hear an ordinance creating a city Emergency Medical Service at its meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the auditorium at Muncie City Hall.

The ordinance, which will be introduced Monday evening, establishes a fire department-based EMS, provides a mechanism for assessing fees and allows the city to contract with a provider "until the city determines that it has adequate personnel and equipment to provide the service."

Since The Star Press reported in August that the city was considering starting its own ambulance service, timed to coincide with the February 2018 loss of $2 million in federal SAFER funding that pays for the salaries of 16 of the city's 110 firefighters, officials have only said they're considering a program found in other cities.

Mayor Dennis Tyler, a retired firefighter, said in August that the city was looking at providing better service and faster response times than Delaware County EMS, the countywide ambulance service established four decades ago.

In early November, Fire Chief Eddie Bell and city spokesman Sarah Beach denied the city had bought ambulances for its new service.

Tyler and Bell issued a joint statement, through Beach, early Thursday afternoon:

"We are pleased to be introducing an ordinance at the city council meeting on Monday night that will give the city of Muncie the ability to pursue fire-based ambulance services for our citizens," the officials said. "We look forward to this ordinance being introduced and having the opportunity to discuss with the city council how we feel this ordinance will benefit the city of Muncie and our citizens."

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The ordinance says that the city EMS would be staffed and equipped by the fire department and provide both non-emergency and emergency basic life support services and advanced life support services.

The city could assess fees for services, which would go into a fund to be used for personnel or equipment costs. The ordinance would be in effect on May 1, 2018.

After hearing about the city's plans earlier this year, Delaware County officials noted that a city ambulance service would take away as much as 70 percent of Delaware County EMS' 16,000-plus runs each year.

Delaware County EMS has 45 full-time employees. It operates on a budget of $3.3 million. By the time revenue from patients, who pay up to $1,200 for advanced life support runs, is collected, county EMS nets about $32,195 a year.

City officials and Delaware County officials have been at odds for a couple of years over public safety-related issues, including the city-county 911 dispatch center, which could be split into two centers.

The city's decision to operate its own ambulance service has county officials expressing concerns.

"This is uncharted territory for all Delaware County citizens," Jason Rogers, director of Delaware County EMS and Emergency Management, told The Star Press Thursday afternoon. "Everything being on the table, we will be forced to lay off union members, lay off all our part-time employees and evaluate the run volume of every station, including stations outside the city limits."

Although few entities have publicly weighed in on the proposed city ambulance service during the months when it was mostly the subject of speculation, Muncie City Council member Dan Ridenour said he had spoken to people ranging from the emergency medical profession to members of the public and "they have not been supportive of this. I've not heard a lot of positive support. I'm open to listening, but I'm leaning against it."

Members of Delaware County Council talked about the proposal at a recent meeting and the council president, Ron Quakenbush, was critical of the idea.

"Someone wanting to break up the (ambulance) service is, I'll use a big word, asinine," Quakenbush said.

Keith Roysdon is the government watchdog reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5828 and kroysdon@muncie.gannett.com.