Pafford, Ruston present proposals

The Lincoln Parish Police Jury Ambulance Committee may be ready to vote next week on a recommendation for rural emergency medical and rescue service providers for next year.

The committee on Thursday reviewed updated ambulance proposals from the city of Ruston and Pafford EMS but didn’t learn until near the end of the almost two- hour meeting that it’s still awaiting a revised rescue plan from the parish fire district.

That proposal is supposed be ready for the panel’s Sept. 22 meeting. If that happens, and action on the three proposals is on next week’s agenda, that means the committee will have had one week to mull the ambulance offers but will vote on the rescue plan the same day they discuss it.

The committee is charged with making a recommendation to the jury for rural ambulance and rescue service once the current contract with the city of Ruston ends at midnight Dec. 31.

But so far, the only recommendation it made — that the jury continue with the Ruston Fire Department as both ambulance and rescue provider for 2023 at the cost of $645,604 — was shot down in July.

But regardless of what happens next, the jury still has no plan to pay for any service. That, along with the lack of a final fire district plan and the clock ticking toward yearend with still no recommendation irked some attendees at Thursday’s meeting.

“We started this process in March, and where are we at today? The same place. It’s unacceptable,” Ruston fire Chief Chris Womack said. “People are fed up. And from the fire department and the city, I’m fed up, and the citizens of the parish are fed up. Something needs to be done.

“Everybody I think sitting here knows where this board stands today. You could have voted today. I think we all know where everybody’s at. Do your job. Ask the questions, ask the hard questions. Then come back and make a decision. Then let’s get this settled, period.”

Here’s what’s on the table:

• Pafford EMS: The private ambulance company is proposing a one-year contract for $360,000 for EMS service only. That number would drop to $310,000 if, as Fire District Board Chairman Richard Aillet requested, Pafford removes a $50,000 onetime donation to the fire district. Any subsequent renewal would go back to $360,000. The contract has options to renew annually for up to five years.

The proposal does not include a built-in escalation for inflation. Pafford would provide one advanced life support ambulance stationed at a yet-to-bedetermined location in the parish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Pafford would also pay for installation of a ringdown line to the connect to the parish 911 dispatch center.

Pafford will bill for its services, but some of that could be offset for people who buy a $60 annual membership.

• Ruston Fire Department: The city’s proposal is $645,604 annually for both ambulance and rescue service for five years with a five-year renewal option. The city wants the five- year agreement because it plans to hire additional personnel and purchase more equipment to cover increasing city and parish needs adequately, Womack said.

The contract also has an annual inflation adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index. RFD is already part of the 911 dispatch; no changes would be needed. Patients would be billed only what Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance would pay.

The city proposal includes language that would allow the police jury to choose another rescue provider with a 90-day notice prior to Dec. 31 of any year in the contract. If the jury did that, the Ruston cost for ambulance service only would drop to $565,604.

• Lincoln Parish Fire Protection District: The fire district proposal is for rescue only. It’s a three-year proposal with annual operating expenses of $478,000 plus a 5% contingency, which would bring the operating total to $502,000. The fire district would hire six additional employees.

Capital expenses under the proposal given the committee in August are split over three years. The first year was originally set at $141,000, but that may change if the district gets grants and other funds. The second year was pegged at $212,000 and the third year at $86,500.

There’s also an additional $500,000 for a rescue truck not plugged into a specific year of the three-year plan.

Following Thursday’s meeting, district Chief Kevin Reynolds said the operating expenses will stay the same in the forthcoming tweaked proposal; it’s the capital expenses that may change.

The fire district’s current proposal is in cost-estimate format and not formal contract language like the Pafford and Ruston plans.

“Where’s our proposal from the first district so we can compare all three, or is this the proposal?” committee member Dr. Jackie White asked, holding up the single-page cost estimate.

White had asked at the Sept. 8 meeting that the proposal be sent to members. It wasn’t. Committee Chairman Charlie Edwards said all he had was “a second-hand copy.”

Lewis Jones, the jury’s attorney, said it will be hard for him to make a recommendation to the jury, should it ask for one, without firm numbers to compare.

“I’m just wondering are y’all going to give us something in writing?” Jones asked Aillet. “Are we going to get anything clearer than we have?”

Aillet said it was his understanding that on Sept. 22 “we’re going to sit down in the grilling chair just like these guys (Pafford COO Shane Davidson and Womack) did and make a proposal.”

The fire district was also last to submit its original proposal. At that time, Aillet repeatedly said the district was working on its numbers.