FLOYD COUNTY, Ind. — Floyd County is almost fully committed to a new ambulance plan through 2026, as contracts were approved Tuesday night with funding pending. Some leaders called it a compromise, while others feel they straight up dropped the ball.
"I've just gotta say I think this is the worst contract I've ever seen in regards to public service," County Commissioner Jason Sharp said. "From the way it was negotiated to the language that was put in there."
Separate contracts were approved for AmeriPro and Highlander Fire Department to provide ambulance service, Sharp was referring to the latter. The total dollar amount through 2026 is roughly $3.5 million for the two.
The commissioners voted to "continue negotiations" with AmeriPro on March 27, but that momentum quickly stalled when several county councilors and commissioner John Schellenburger started vouching for "fire-based EMS."
"We could have signed a contract with AmeriPro exclusively, but would it have been appropriated? And would it have been fair to enter into that contract without letting them know that it might not be appropriated?" Commissioner Al Knable said.
After six joint meetings of both bodies, they settled on "option 7", which has different coverage plans for 2024 and 2025 - 2026. From June 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2024, AmeriPro will provide primary EMS coverage for the whole county, with Highlander Fire Department in a support role.
Highlander will be paid a stipend, while it gets all ambulance certification and hires paramedics or cross-trained firefighters. From Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2026, Highlander will be the primary EMS provider in two townships (Greenville and Lafayette) while AmeriPro remains the primary EMS provider in the other three townships.
"Where we've ended up with this compromise, it wasn't my first choice but I learned a lot along the way. And I'm content with the contracts that we've signed tonight," Knable said.
"I've been researching this EMS issues for about six years now," Councilman Brad Striegel said. "The best model I believe fits for the county is a fire-based EMS model."
Sharp voted against the Highlander contract, which passed 2-1, and voted for the AmeriPro contract, which passed 3-0. He supports fire-based EMS, but says the language differences in the two contracts make no sense.
AmeriPro's contract clearly says it is beholden to two national standards for response times, and that it will be penalized financially if too many runs are slower than 11 minutes and 59 seconds.
Highlander's contract says it will provide a monthly report on "response time compliance", but doesn't list any specific dollar amount penalties for slow responses.
Highlander's contract also says Floyd County will pay the full amount of the contract through 2026 if the commissioners choose to end it early. AmeriPro's contract has no such clause.
"Even if it was just cause, we'd still have to pay them the complete money all the way through 2026. So, I've never evern seen anything like that," Sharp said.
Both contracts do not go into effect until the county council approves funding. That is expected to happen next Wednesday.
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