The Columbia County Board of Commissioners approved renewing the contract with Gold Cross EMS during the meeting on Tuesday, June 6.
However, instead of picking one of the two options discussed during the Community and Emergency Services Committee, County Manager Scott Johnson said after discussion with Gold Cross, a third option was presented and ultimately agreed upon.
“The third option was to keep all of our service levels exactly where they are,” Johnson said. “We’re also going to be paying the same supplement we’ve been paying, so in essence the contract remains the exact same. The only difference that we’re going to see is the county is going to be taking over the dispatch for Gold Cross, which means we’re going to bring that in house, make that part of our 911 center. Currently, if we receive a 911 call, it is transferred to Gold Cross. They have their own dispatch center. We just feel like it would be more efficient, safer for our citizens if the call is answered in 911 and then dispatched from 911. They’ll be housed in our 911 center.”
Vince Brogdon, CEO of Gold Cross EMS, said he was looking forward to continuing the partnership with the county.
“We’ve appreciated our partnership and we appreciate the confidence of the commission and administration,” Brogdon said. “We work closely with the fire chief and Mr. Johnson and his team to ensure that the quality and the ambulances that are coming to your house, so when someone calls 911 the confidence that someone is going to be there in a timely fashion will continue.”
Johnson said the county has given itself six months to get the dispatch center up and running at the 911 center but hopes to have it up sooner rather than later. However, there are still several things that need to be done before it can start.
“We are going to have to add a console at our 911 center, we’re going to have to make sure we hire the right personnel that understand how to dispatch EMS units,” Johnson said. “That will take some time…if we could get all of the equipment and all the personnel hired and all the software, then certainly we’ll move forward with that and start the dispatch center.”
As for how this renewal will benefit the citizens of Columbia County, Johnson said it allows the county to maintain control of the ambulances and know where they are throughout the county.
“It’s certainly going to be better for public safety because we’re going to have a good idea of where all the ambulances are all the time, so I think that’s going to definitely be a benefit for us,” Johnson said. “Certainly not having to transfer a call from 911 to a third-party provider. Seconds count in emergencies, so having that housed in 911 I think is going to be better for our citizens in Columbia County. As for the benefit for Gold Cross, there is an expense to running dispatch. So, we negotiated that and said we would take over the dispatch without adding or subtracting anything from our current contract. By us taking on that additional duty with the county, that is a savings for Gold Cross and it’s our hope that Gold Cross will be able to invest that money back into the company to be able to enhance the salaries of the paramedics that they have on staff to be able to just give us a better service overall.”
Brogdon said EMS, just like many other industries, is facing staffing challenges, and Gold Cross is actively seeking employees.
“Just a few weeks ago we did market adjustment rates for our EMTs and paramedics, so we did increase their salary,” Brogdon said. “Some of the paramedics got a $3 to $4 an hour raise, EMTs got $2 to $3 an hour raise and hopefully in the next couple of months we’ll be able to do that again just depending on how the transition with dispatch goes, how soon that goes. I do plan to reinvest all of the savings from dispatch back into the company so we can hopefully keep the salaries up high.”
Columbia County has a multi-year contract with Gold Cross and this action was renewing that contract. Brogdon said Gold Cross has worked together since 2001 and hope to continue the partnership for years to come.
“We’re committed to do quality service and to the citizens of Columbia County,” Brogdon said.
Besides the contract with Gold Cross, commissioners approved amending the fee schedule for water utility, amending the fee schedule for land development fees in the Stormwater Compliance Department and an amendment of the fee schedule for building standards. A full story about these changes will be in The Augusta Press on Thursday.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
