Ambulance companies vie for contract

While declining to go into specifics for the moment, County Judge John Hall said after he makes a decision next week on which ambulance company will get the next county contract, he will provide a detailed explanation of his reasoning.

"I'm not just going to say I choose this one or that one," Hall said Wednesday. "I'm going to explain the reasoning, what I'm doing. Why I've come to whatever conclusion I've come to."

CareOne, the current EMS provider for Crawford County, gave its pitch to Hall and the quorum court’s health and welfare committee during a special Monday meeting, as did Southwest EMS, the company that serves the cities of Alma and Van Buren.

CareOne focused on its local connection.

"I think the people in the county want a hometown ambulance service," owner Wes McCabe said. "I think that's the biggest thing we offer."

McCabe said he has devoted the majority of his career to serving the citizens of Crawford County, often at cost to his family. CareOne’s contract expires at the end of the year.

Robby Hines, owner of Mena-based Southwest, said the service also has strong Western Arkansas ties, with operations in Polk, Scott, Sevier and Montgomery counties.

"One of the things we strive to do is set up good quality relationships with the areas we serve," Hines said. He said that includes fire and police departments as well as local hospitals.

Summit Medical Center in Van Buren is the only hospital in Crawford County.

CareOne currently has ambulances in Alma, Cedarville and Van Buren. Southwest has two staffed advanced life support ambulances, plus a backup and an additional vehicle that allows them to make non-emergency basic life support transfers. Southwest handed out paperwork to Hall and the quorum court stating it would add one ambulance to the Alma station and one to a location somewhere around the Figure Five community between Van Buren and Cedarville.

Some arguments broke out after each company made its presentation, as Justice of the Peace Penny Lane declared she was uncomfortable with Hall making the decision on his own when the quorum court has previously voted on the matter. Other JPs said they trusted Hall to look at all aspects of the decision, and the county's attorney pointed out Hall is the only county official with the power to sign contracts and a quorum court vote would not be binding.

Hall has said for several weeks that since he bears the ultimate responsibility for the contract, he will be the one to make the final call.

A call to vote on an ambulance provider recommendation at a later date failed when only Lane and JP Tom Fite supported it. Another motion made by Lane and seconded by Fite called for JPs to make an immediate recommendation on which ambulance company they preferred. Eight JPs abstained from voting, while Lane, Fite and JP Sharon voiced support for CareOne.

JP Stanley Clark chairs the health and welfare committee and thus cannot vote. While he expressed no preference Monday, he has previously said he is disappointed in CareOne’s failure to consistently give monthly reports detailing its calls.

Hall invited quorum court members to submit individual recommendations to him in writing, but cautioned them that all correspondence would be subject to open records laws.

As of Wednesday, Hall said he was still weighing various factors and had yet to reach a final verdict.

"Each day there's different things that come to light that I need to plug into the equation and look at," Hall said.

The county judge declined to discuss the squabbling at Monday's meeting.

"The quorum court is the legislative end of the county," Hall said. "They need to work out their discussions among themselves. I don't want to comment on anything that went on. I've got a large enough decision to make on my own."

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