Supervisors looking into county-run ambulance

FAIRFIELD — The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors is taking steps to see the feasibility of taking on the ambulance service as a county-run department.

Jefferson County’s ambulance service is currently provided by a private company, CARE Ambulance of Iowa City. In the past few years, proposals have been floated to have the service done by local governments instead. For instance, the City of Fairfield put in a bid to take over the service in 2020, but the Jefferson County Ambulance Service Agency opted to contract with CARE instead.

The Jefferson County Supervisors are discussing ways that the county could take over the service, how it would be paid for, and where the ambulances would be housed. The supervisors talked through some of these issues during their meeting Monday, which included the supervisors voting on a couple of motions. One of the those motions was to create a resolution designating ambulance as an “essential county service.” Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding will draft a resolution and present it to the supervisors next week.

Dee Sandquist, vice chair of the supervisors, said adopting that resolution was necessary to allow the county to create an ambulance levy, if it wanted to go that route.

Susie Drish, chair of the supervisors, said passing the resolution was a no-brainer.

“An ambulance service is vital to any community,” Drish said. “If it comes to the county taking it over, we will. I still hear stories every day where our current ambulance provider is not doing what they need to do.”

CARE Ambulance is supposed to provide two full-time ambulances in Jefferson County, according to its contract, but the company announced in December it only had enough staff to provide one full-time ambulance and another for 12 hours per day. In January, District Court Judge Myron Gookin ruled that CARE was obligated to fulfill its contract, after the Jefferson County Ambulance Service Agency had filed a temporary injunction against the company.

Sandquist said the idea of converting the ambulance service into a public service has been around a long time. She said the supervisors voted on the idea five or six years ago to support a public option.

“The conversation has been ongoing, and we’re to the point where we’re taking action,” Sandquist said.

The supervisors also voted to approve an architect looking into what it would take to remodel the former First National Bank building at 1900 W. Burlington Ave. into an ambulance barn. The supervisors will pay $3,500 to Horizon Architecture, which will draw up a proposal for the supervisors.

Sandquist said the plan would be to use the existing building, which the county purchased last year, and add a garage to it where the ambulances could be housed.

“The building would be a wonderful place for staff and storage, and we’d just need to add a garage,” she said.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com