Prairie Township held its September meeting Thursday night at Township Trustee Julia Goon’s home office.
Lutheran EMS and Tri-County Ambulance Service Inc. were both in attendance to discuss the township’s ambulance contract for the upcoming year. Lutheran EMS, formed by Kosciusko Community Hospital’s purchase of Multi-Township EMS, was represented by employee Millie Bartley.
Bartley presented a three-year contract to the township that stated there would be no changes in service and that they would have access to better resources and a 25 percent reduction of tax subsidy. No upcoming changes for rates are expected.
Lutheran EMS has performed 58 runs so far this year in the area. Bartley did not know the base rate for ambulance services.
Tri-County, a privately owned business, had three employees present who all contributed to their presentation: Tyler Huffer, Jeremy Mast and Cory Benz. Because Tri-County is new to the area, they were not in a position to lay out exact numbers, but did present Goon with a sample contract. They proposed that their base rate would be $700 per run plus mileage.
Lutheran EMS employees 60 individuals who run eight ambulances. Tri-County, which serves the Elkhart, St. Joe and Marshall counties, has 110 employees and 18 ambulances. Instead of the typical 911 extension, Tri-County can be reached at 888-606-5050. They would still be responding to 911-style issues.
Goon and the board expressed several concerns about Lutheran EMS. They are not comfortable with the way Multi-Township EMS was sold to Lutheran, they would prefer a one-year contract instead of the proposed three years and there was no termination clause in the contract.
Trustees said they’re not ready to make a decision on an ambulance contract yet, and did not indicate when they might reach a decision.
There are several townships in Kosciusko County that have not yet contracted for 2016, including Wayne, Harrison and Prairie. Lake and Seward townships left M-TEMS several years ago and contracted with Life Med.
Also Thursday, Prairie Township trustees adopted the re-establishment of the CUM Fire Fund for 2016, payable starting in 2017. This is for the future purchase of a combination pumper/tanker firetruck.
“We are proud that we have purchased all of our equipment and built onto our fire station without borrowing money,” said Goon.
The budget for Prairie Township that trustees reviewed remains the same as 2015 and will be adopted on Sept. 14.
(Story By The Times Union)
