Private company unhappy with EMS agreement

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Serving Seguin and Guadalupe County since 1888

Private company unhappy with EMS agreement

By Bill O'Connell

Gazette-Enterprise

Published December 27, 2001

SEGUIN — An ambulance company owner accused Guadalupe County

Commissioners’ Court of ignoring its own rules in awarding a $700,000 yearly

contract for emergency medical services to a joint venture of area

municipalities.

“I’m sitting here listening to this and I feel like I haven’t been

part of the process,” Southerncross Ambulance Inc. owner Craig LeBlanc told

commissioners during a public meeting Wednesday.

Commissioners selected a proposal for EMS services from the cities

of Schertz, Seguin and New Braunfels as well as Hays County.

LeBlanc, whose New Braunfels-based company was one of three private

EMS providers that were left out of the contract when the bid was awarded,

pointed to written guidelines in the request for proposals that told bidders to

avoid collusion in vying for the contract.

“They took four different entities to put together one package,”

LeBlanc said.

Commissioner Jim Wolverton said he was not satisfied with the

process, which left the county without a single ambulance dedicated exclusively

for EMS needs.

“We’re paying $700,000 and we’re still second tier,” Wolverton said.

A total of six ambulances will be able to respond to calls for

service in the county in the contract, which will provide service to Guadalupe

County residents through the 2003 budget year. A criticism of the contract was

that the ambulances would be dedicated to the county only in theory because, as

Seguin City Manager Jack Hamlett said, “Our first priority is our city ...

That’s why we can’t dedicate two units to the county.”

Hamlett added that city fire crews would be able to serve as backup

units. Seguin city fire fighters are cross-trained in EMS procedures and could

perform lifesaving actions until ambulance crews arrived.

Paying tax dollars for ambulances that could be tied up with

municipal emergency calls did not sit well with Wolverton, who said he wanted

guaranteed coverage in the county.

Wolverton cast the lone dissenting vote and chided his fellow

commissioners for taking action on the contract without allowing Southerncross

time to provide more details on a planned 9-1-1 call center for the Clear

Springs area.

“I think you’re making a hasty decision,” Wolverton said.

LeBlanc also objected to discussion at Wednesday’s meeting about

other services such as extrication that the group of cities can provide. The

Southerncross owner said his proposal did not address extrication capabilities

because it was not included in the request for proposals.

Southerncross and other EMS companies at the meeting said they could

provide those services. Services

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