MUNCIE, Ind. — Mayor Dennis Tyler is considering creating a city ambulance service, staffed by Muncie firefighters, that would take over duties that have been performed for decades by the Delaware County Emergency Medical Service.

The move comes just as $2 million in federal SAFER funding, which keeps 16 of the city’s 110 firefighters employed, runs out in a few months, potentially ending their jobs.

As the possibility of a city ambulance service is discussed, so are potential stations for it. Among the suggested locations is a former fire station owned by a veteran Muncie police officer's private company, a possibility city officials denied in a Facebook post Saturday, a day after this story was published online.

In that Facebook post, the city confirms that it is "looking at how ambulance service is provided to other second-class cities ... (in) a desire to provide the best service to the citizens of Muncie. ... Response times of ambulance service would be greatly improved if ambulance services were provided by the Muncie Fire Department."

Tyler has expressed interest in a city ambulance service, or at least revenue from the county's service, before. The Star Press reported in 2014 that Tyler considered creating the city’s own ambulance service but ultimately asked Delaware County officials about the possibility of adding $100 to the cost, then $750 to $900 a run, charged by county EMS for runs within the city limits. That extra $100 per run would have gone to the city.

Nothing came of that discussion and Muncie City Council created a public safety income tax in 2015 to help fund local emergency services. But now, county officials tell The Star Press they’re hearing that Tyler is once again talking about a city ambulance service.

Delaware County Commissioner James King said he’s asked the county attorney to write a letter to Tyler, asking him to clarify his intentions.

“I’ve asked our attorney to draft a letter to the mayor,” King said. “Asking the city if they’re looking at creating their own ambulance service.”

The Star Press contacted Tyler for comment this week. In response, city human resources director Sarah Beach, who has become a spokesman for the city in recent months, said, "Fire Chief Eddie Bell has encouraged the mayor to explore the options that many other second-class cities are providing to their citizens. Mayor Tyler has agreed and is researching different opportunities at this time."

The Star Press asked Tyler again on Thursday and he said he was "not ready to comment at this time ... still in preliminary stages."

The city breaking away and starting its own ambulance service has been a rumor for years, said Jason Rogers, executive director of Delaware County EMS. But Rogers said he hopes the complications that might arise from such a break, including concerns for the public's welfare, are thoroughly discussed.

"Our service has been around for more than 40 years," Rogers said. "We built it from the ground up. To replace that would be an enormous task. I can't imagine creating something you're already getting for free."

And a city-run EMS would put so-far-unknown pressure and demand on local firefighters. Because 70 percent of Delaware County EMS' 16,000-plus annual runs are within Muncie city limits. MFD's 7,000-plus-run workload each year would increase considerably.

SAFER money running out

Established in the 1970s, Delaware County EMS has been the only local government-run ambulance service for most of that time. A brief controversy ensued in 1986 when a private ambulance service sent a letter to local residents urging them to call it rather than 911.

Private ambulance services have and continue to provide transportation for patients needing passage among homes, nursing facilities and doctor’s offices. But only EMS, overseen by the county commissioners, has handled emergency response, often paired with first-responder Muncie Fire Department personnel, who are separately dispatched by the city-county 911 center.

Under the terms of a September 1977 agreement signed by then-Mayor Robert Cunningham and then-Muncie City Council president Daniel Kelly, the county Emergency Medical Service was to provide ambulance service throughout the county, including the city.

Decades later, the city’s fire department won a SAFER grant under then-Mayor Sharon McShurley that funded salaries for as many as 32 firefighters. That federal Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Grants amount was reduced during Tyler's term to $2.1 million, which the mayor said in 2015 would cover 16 firefighters for two years.

That grant will expire in February 2018, the city acknowledged this week, potentially ending the jobs of 16 firefighters.

A city ambulance service would provide jobs for Muncie firefighters, many of who are trained in first responder-type medical procedures.

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.

Many EMS customers don't pay, however, Rogers told The Star Press that the ambulance service's write-offs totaled nearly $4.5 million in 2016.

In 2016, EMS responded to more than 16,000 calls, according to numbers provided by the county.

That same year, Muncie Fire Department personnel responded to 1,711 non-medical calls out of more than 7,700 runs, according to 911 dispatch records.

King told The Star Press he's asked Tyler to clarify the city's intentions about a new ambulance service in part because county officials will be putting together the 2018 budget for EMS and in part because they'll soon be renegotiating the labor contract with Firefighters Local 1348, which represents EMS members as well as Muncie firefighters.

Beach said last week that the city EMS proposal was "just in the exploratory phase" and that the city is "just gathering information" and couldn't yet comment on the possibility of public hearings to gather input from the public.

The Star Press sent emails to all nine members of Muncie City Council last week, asking how they felt about a city EMS service.

Several council members responded, although most said they hadn't heard of the city EMS proposal. Some said they were not opposed to the idea.

"Unless there's a clear, demonstrated, documented, cost saving, I probably wouldn't support it," council Democrat Linda Gregory said.

Council Democrat Nora Powell said she hadn't seen a city EMS proposals but "would certainly welcome the opportunity to review them."

Station already in mind?

Much of the speculation for where the city ambulance service would be headquartered has focused on the former Center Township fire station at 4651 N. Woods Edge Lane, where the township maintained a fire station until that program was ended in 2010 when the Muncie Fire Department won a contract to provide fire protection for all of Center Township.

The Woods Edge Lane building was purchased for $205,000 in February by Red Carpet Inc. According to Indiana Secretary of State records, Red Carpet Inc.’s president is Jess Neal, a longtime Muncie police officer who has other business dealings with the city and Muncie Sanitary District. Neal’s employment agency, Advanced Quality Solutions, has been paid tens of thousands of dollars for temporary workers for the city and Sanitary District. As of last week, Neal had not filed a conflict of interest form with the state of Indiana for conducting private business with the city.

Center Township had a southside fire station also, but that building, in the Industria Centre, is now occupied by a Schwan’s frozen food delivery center.

Both buildings had been owned by the Amy Ruth Etchison Trust at the time they were leased to Center Township for use as fire stations.

A recent city permit for electrical work in the Woods Edge Lane building listed the owner of the building as the Etchison Trust, although county records reflect the trust hasn’t been the owner since 2012 or earlier.

Neal’s Red Carpet Inc. bought the property in February from Southern Financial Group LLC, which bought it in 2012 from Etchison’s trust.

Michael Etchison, who oversees the trust in his wife’s name, lives in Florida. When contacted by The Star Press, he couldn’t explain why the trust would be listed as owner on the property it hasn’t owned in several years.

“We do not own it,” Etchison said. “They’ve obviously got that messed up. That is odd.”

Tyler declined to be interviewed for this story, answering through his human resources director. On Saturday, a day after this story was posted online, the city posted on Facebook that "no real estate would need to be purchased or leased to provide ambulance services. The city of Muncie already has seven fire stations strategically located throughout our city that would readily house and staff ambulance services."

The city's Facebook post goes on to inaccurately say there is only one Delaware County EMS station in the city limits. There are at least two, downtown and at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, as well as EMS stations on West Memorial Drive, north in Hamilton Township and one in Yorktown.

King said the city's consideration of its own ambulance service has several unknowns, including the station and where ambulances would come from.

"Would they contract with somebody for the station and ambulances?" King asked. "How would they be dispatched? These are questions we'd like the mayor to answer for us."

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

City, county emergency services by the numbers

Delaware County Emergency Medical Service - 45 employees

Muncie Fire Department - 110

Muncie Police Department - 104

Delaware County EMS runs in 2016 - 16,314

Muncie Fire Deparment runs in 2016 - 7,711 (1,711 non medical)

Source: City of Muncie, Delaware County