When it came time for the Board of Supervisors to discuss ambulance service for the county this week, what appeared would be a slam dunk for current provider AMR took a big turn.
It seems that the fire chiefs in Simpson County had a meeting led by County Fire Coordinator Charlie Valadie and decided they were not happy with AMR, the existing provider, despite the fact that Magee and Mendenhall do not provide assistance as first responders to the ambulance service. A board member stated that Valadie “had no business making the recommendation.”
Board members also questioned why only one service providers, ASAP, attended Valadie’s meeting. Others questioned why, if fire personnel were going to discuss business about the county, the meeting was not announced and the public was not allowed to attend since it is the taxpayer’s money that was being spent.
It was suggested that maybe County Emergency Coordinator Glen Jennings would have been the right person to recommend ASAP. It was also noted that Valadie doesn’t live in Simpson County and thus probably shouldn’t have a say.
County Administrator Rhuel Dickinson told the group that they should have allowed other parties to be present.
Valadie had stated that AMR was “an unstable company” because they had changed ownership twice, according to Dickinson.
Supervisor Curtis Skiffer expressed his displeasure over the miscommunication between the fire departments and ambulance service. He said this is the first time that something like this had happened and he “expected better.”
A motion was made to approve AMR as provider for the upcoming term. It was seconded and approved on a four to one vote with Sup. Brian Kennedy voting against.
The board approved the purchase of a fire truck for the Pinola Fire Department on state contract in the amount of $130,000.
The board heard from Mendenhall’s mayor, Todd Booth. He requested that the county wait until next year before they stop funding the recreational grant because municipalities had already budgeted grant funds and that would leave a shortfall in the budget. In Mendenhall’s case that was $12,500, Magee $10,000, Braxton $5,000 and D’Lo $5,000. The board agreed to wait until next year to reduce the funding since budgets had already been established.
The board is considering land acquisition options for property that the state is having to assume from the D’Lo Water Park. The optimum option would be addition of river property. The state is having to acquire 1.7 acres of land for expansion of the bridges on old Highway 149 over a two year period, which probably will not start until 2019.
The board approved a 260 foot by 100 foot temporary construction easement near the intersection of highways 43 and 28 for repair of a roadway slide.
The board agreed to hire Gerald Horand and Stevie Williams part-time during the summer for the road department. The board also agreed to hire full-time Kelly Rogers and Keith Easterling as replacements for positions that had not been filled.
A group of roads which are being completed for resurfacing include Pine Grove, Waters, Lower Sanatorium and John Owens just be to be stripped to be complete.
Mt. Zion to Shivers Road is awaiting funding.
Heed-Neely Road bridge is awaiting funding with the bridge currently closed and set to be replaced, not repaired.
The bridge on Jake Barnes Road had been approved and fieldwork has been started.
