Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson says that he is committed to making sure all citizens have access to emergency care in a statement his office released Thursday, Jan. 26.
The statement is in relation to ongoing negotiations with Gold Cross EMS to maintain ambulance service in Augusta even though the carrier has officially resigned the zone.
“While this has been an ongoing issue that the Administration inherited, we are working diligently to find solutions and are proud to have a month-to-month contract with Gold Cross in place to ensure continuity of service and our community’s safety. The Mayor is also excited about the prospect of Augusta pursuing the zone, something he has supported since his campaign,” the statement reads.
In a last-minute effort to avoid having virtually no ambulance service in Augusta, the city agreed to a month-to-month arrangement that pays almost the same yearly subsidy that Gold Cross originally asked for to cover fuel costs and non-payment of services by indigent users.
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However, one Augusta commissioner makes it clear that he is not happy with the turn of events which allows the ambulance service to continue in the short run.
District 5 Commissioner Bobby Williams has been a proponent of eliminating Gold Cross EMS, and after attempting to shut the company out of doing business in Augusta completely, the combative Williams is now demure.
“I don’t want to speak about that, Mr. Hudson. I have no comment about it,” Williams said before abruptly ending a phone call.
Former commissioner Marion Williams has a different take on the situation and says the commissioners who voted against Gold Cross are new. He said that he believes that “someone has their ear.”
Marion Williams says that he does not mind naming names and that former commissioners Ben Hasan and Sammie Sias were the two individuals who put the city into a crisis over the ambulance matter. He said they did so for political purposes.
“They were playing games with people’s lives. You can’t do that. I was the first Black fireman in Augusta, Ga., and I know what it takes. I was on top of a ladder truck fighting fires. You can’t play games with people’s lives. This is serious business,” Marion Williams said.
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While Marion Williams says he doesn’t want to comment specifically on Bobby Williams’ behavior as a commissioner, he says that the entire commission needs to learn from the past and avoid making similar mistakes.
“We tried this already. The city can’t run an ambulance service. We tried it, and it failed, you have to have trucks and equipment that are state of the art. You can’t use some outdated vehicle when people need help. You can’t do it that way,” Marion Williams said.
Marion Williams says that the new commissioners Stacy Pulliam and Tony Lewis need to have an ear leaned towards more seasoned public servants such as Wayne Guilfoyle and Al Mason rather than allowing people from the past to influence them and their votes.
“They should be using common sense. This is embarrassing, quite frankly,” Marion Williams said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
