After a lengthy and sometimes passionate debate, the Augusta Commission on Jan. 17 failed again to approve a contract with Gold Cross EMS, which may cause the city to lose its ambulance service.
The memorandum of understanding between the city and Gold Cross EMS expired at the end of 2022.
Gold Cross EMS Vice President Steven Vincent has already pulled the service out of Aiken County partially because the company is operating at a loss in Richmond County.
The main issue on the divided commission is money. Under the memorandum of understanding, the city pays $650,000 a year in subsidies to Gold Cross; however, Vincent has long contended that with a 39% non-payment rate and soaring diesel fuel costs, Gold Cross EMS can no longer operate without a minimum of $1.9 million in the supplemental funding.
At Tuesday’s meeting, District 5 Commissioner Bobby Williams called the $1.9 million ask “ridiculous” and gave an animated speech accusing Gold Cross EMS of slow ambulance times with no accountability.
At one point, Mayor Garnett Johnson told Williams his time was up, to which Williams loudly retorted, “I’m not done yet.”
“That is raking the people of Augusta, I don’t understand it. I don’t understand it at all,” Williams said.
District 4 Commissioner Alvin Mason, who has favored hammering out a contract with the provider, reminded Williams that it was his bloc of commissioners that attempted to squeeze Gold Cross out previously by “low balling” the company and refusing to negotiate a contract.
“We tried to do the ambulance service ourselves and we failed miserably. So, while you are up here tooting your own horn, let’s think about what it was that you did to get us in this position,” Mason said.
According to Mason, not having a contract in place means the city has no recourse to act if response times for the ambulance service fall below acceptable levels.
District 8 Commissioner Brandon Garrett made a motion to approve the contract calling for Gold Cross be given the $1.9 million subsidy with a further $1.9 million as an inducement payment. The contract also would stipulate that Gold Cross maintain a fleet of eight ambulances and one quick response vehicle at all times.
In return, Gold Cross EMS would agree to give up the rights granted by the EMS Division of the Georgia Department of Public Health to the Augusta zone, which would mean the city can issue fines against the company if response times are not maintained.
After the vote was called, more discussion ensued, and an intervention by city attorney Wayne Brown caused Johnson to declare a recess during which several commissioners clumped together in discussion of the issue away from the microphones.
Garrett said that while the commission may have not overtly violated the Open Meetings Act, the sudden delay left him “greatly concerned.”
“We had a properly seconded motion on the floor, and the question had been called. We needed to vote and not break out into groups,” Garrett said.
After the recess, the commission voted 5-4-1 with Williams abstaining to prevent the mayor from breaking the tie. The so-called “abstention rule” has long been used as a means to deny the mayor a tie-breaking vote and has been the subject of lawsuits, according to past press accounts.
Johnson says that the only way to prevent such obstructionism is to amend the city charter.
“I have always been on the record that if there are any changes to the charter to grant any voting or veto powers to the mayor, it should be in the form of a binding referendum for the voters to decide,” Johnson said.
Johnson requested a special called meeting to be held on Jan. 24 to try once again to reach a consensus.
“I have confidence, I am optimistic that we can come to an agreement and get this done,” Johnson said.
Vincent did not return a call for further comment.
