Brownwood City Council and Brown County Commissioners held a joint meeting to discuss and amend the contract for ambulance and emergency medical services between Brown County and Guardian EMS, which is being acquired by Allegiance Ambulance. Commissioners approved a revised contract with Guardian EMS to be assigned to Allegiance with the remaining year and a half term with no increase in price. Brownwood City Council ratified the contract during the meeting with these revised terms.
County commissioners had met Monday and assigned the Guardian EMS contract to Allegiance, and they granted a 3 year extension of the contract. Allegiance agreed to keep the subsidy for the emergency service provided at the same amount, not raising it as the previous contract terms allowed.
In Tuesday’s Brownwood City Council meeting, a vote against ratification of the county’s agreement was decided in a split vote of the councilmen. Council members agreed to meet with commissioners before agreeing to paying the city’s portion of the subsidy. The main concern of council members was that the contract had been extended without allowing bids from other companies to be submitted as was expected with the previous contract’s terms.
Heart of Texas EMS had approached Brownwood City Council in hopes of getting a permit which would allow them to operate within the city limits; however, at that time council members did not think that the city could support two ambulance services and the stability of the current provider could be at risk. Council told Heart of Texas EMS at the time that when the current provider’s contract was up, bids could be taken and that would be when they would be able to submit a competitive bid, giving Heart of Texas EMS a chance to provide emergency services.
Brownwood City Councilman Draco Miller stated Tuesday that he felt the city should be true to their word and do their best to help Heart of Texas EMS have a chance to make a bid as previously discussed.
Mayor Stephen Haynes voiced the council’s concerns at the joint meeting stating that the City of Brownwood could hold true to their word.
“My concern was we needed to be true to our word and not extend the contract,” said Haynes as the commissioners made a motion to do away with the new contract agreed to Monday and in its place, make amendments to the previous contract with Guardian. These amendments would apply to the contract with Guardian and Brown County, assigning the contract to Allegiance and lock in the subsidy so that it would not increase before the end of the contract’s term. There would be no extension and the contract would terminate on December 31, 2015 as the prior contract provided.
Brown County Judge Ray West explained that the contract being amended included a clause for an automatic option for a five year extension unless the parties notified each other six months prior to the contract’s expiration date (which is December 31, 2015). He also explained that the matter of Allegiance Ambulance’s performance would first be taken up by the ambulance committee before the county considers an extension in 2015.
“The county’s ambulance committee will need to meet at least six months prior to the renewal,” said West. “(Brownwood City Manager) Bobby Rountree and (County Court Administrator) Jayme Joyner will arrange the (ambulance committee) meeting to discuss the performance of the provider and review standards.”
All parties involved stated they were pleased with the results of Friday’s joint meeting.
Councilman Miller stated, “I’m alright with it as long as within six months (prior to the end of the contract), we get to open it up for bids. I’m not alright if they (county commissioners) automatically renew the contract without the city’s involvement.”
Councilman Eddie Watson agreed with the terms as well, “We did get the changes we wanted.”
Heart of Texas EMS owner David Furry also expressed that he was pleased in the direction the meeting went.
“That’s all we really wanted to do is bid. We do a tremendous amount of business in Brownwood and we hoped the ‘local guy’ would get a chance to bid and now we feel we have a better shot,” Furry said.
Rountree stated that he felt the decision to amend the previous contract without the renewal was fair.
“I think that’s the fair thing to do, the direction we need to go. In a year to a year and a half, we’ll get together and try to see how Allegiance’s performance is doing,” stated Rountree.
Ricky Powell, former CEO of Guardian EMS now COO of Allegiance stated that this was the agreement Allegiance wanted to accomplish, with the assignment of the contract to Allegiance
“The most important thing is that the citizens of Brown County will see improvement of clinical care. Brownwood had, in the past, 7 providers in just 5 years,” explained Powell. The contract assignment to Allegiance, according to Powell and Ross Bradley, also with Allegiance, “ensures longevity” of the service to the citizens of the county unlike previous ambulance companies who served the area.
Allegiance is based out of Georgetown and dispatched out of Columbus, Texas. Powell assured that equipment as well as employee benefits will be improved with the new company, which will also help establish employee retention as well as improvement of care.
Pictured above is an Allegiance ambulance, showing what will be the new face of emergency service in Brown County.
