(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Augusta Press.)
After 15 months of contract negotiations with Gold Cross EMS, if you could call them negotiations, half the Augusta Commission nixed the proposed contract and $1.9 million annual subsidy.
After 20 minutes of negotiating, commissioners unanimously approved a month-to-month contract with Gold Cross to save their own butts.
And after one week, city officials were able to recommend an ambulance service company with no local ties that asked for more money than Gold Cross.
After one day to read the proposed contract with AmeriPro, commissioners voted on it and its $2.4 million subsidy, and the commissioners who usually abstain to bring things to a halt, didn’t. So, Mayor Garnett Johnson, who inherited the problem after running on a platform of fiscal responsibility and supporting local businesses, broke the 5-5 tie with a no vote.
A House Divided
Now, the commission remains divided on the AmeriPro contract that was conceived in a hurry and born prematurely in one week instead of the usual weekslong gestation period.
City Procurement Director Geri Sams sent out requests for proposals without a commission vote, and she and a committee from various city departments ranked the proposals. Some committee members were known to be biased against Gold Cross because they have openly criticized them. One member had previously worked for the company, a glaring conflict of interest. And Fire Chief Antonio Burden was recruiting ambulance companies to submit proposals while the process was ongoing, a flagrant violation of the process.
So, Gold Cross filed an official protest with the city over the selection process that was used to rank AmeriPro first and recommend it to be the city’s ambulance provider.
Gold Cross lost points because they weren’t credited with being an Augusta company although they have nine locations in the city and have been in the area for 17 years.
Also, AmeriPro didn’t get an ambulance service license until March 2018, although one of the requirements to be considered was to have been a licensed ambulance provider for at least five years.
The presentation scoring for Gold Cross was also flawed, according to company Vice President Steven Vincent who said the city’s Contract Compliance Administrator Nancy Williams called him and said he didn’t need to prepare a presentation; that he would only introduce his company and answer questions, which didn’t turn out to be the case.
In addition, Gold Cross says that Augusta’s 911 Director Daniel Dunlap has actively voted against them and voiced opposition to Gold Cross on the Region VI EMS Council. Also, a former Gold Cross employee, Ryan Goodson, actively participated on the ranking committee.
Gold Cross received high scores in qualification and experience, but significantly low scores in questions and answers that required subjective opinions.
City officials will try to resolve Gold Cross’s issues, but if they can’t Sams will issue a written decision that Gold Cross may appeal. If nothing is resolved, the matter could come before the commission for another vote.
MORE: Column: Augusta’s emergency services contract is no laughing matter
The Application that Never Was
After commissioners rejected the proposed Gold Cross contract, Gold Cross gave up the Richmond County zone that had entitled them to be the county’s sole ambulance provider. Their ownership of the zone was a painful thorn in some city officials’ sides and an illegitimate excuse for cutting the company’s subsidy to the bone.
Then, on Jan. 25, Augusta commissioners unanimously approved Commissioner Bobby Williams’ motion for Augusta to pursue the zone by submitting an application with the Region 6 EMS zoning committee. But if the RFQs were premature, the zone application didn’t come at all because interim City Administrator Takiyah Douse and staff and General Counsel Wayne Brown, who appeared to work against Gold Cross with his unintelligible legal opinions, failed to submit an application.
Putting the Cart Before the Horse
The Region 6 EMS Council Zoning Committee voted Wednesday to recommend Central EMS to become the zone provider for Richmond County. Interestingly enough, though, Central EMS’s founder Gary Coker already laid out an exit strategy if Augusta doesn’t pony up.
Coker said his company would have to make at least a 10 percent profit to operate in Augusta. If not, they will not be able to operate here, or parts of their proposal might change.
In 2018, Central’s bid proposal to provide ambulance service in Richmond County was for 12 to 14 ambulances for a subsidy of $3 million. The president’s current proposal was for the same number of ambulances, plus three QRVs, which require nine paramedics. So, with the rising costs of doing business, the subsidy would probably be $4.5 million to $5 million, compared with Gold Cross’s ask of $1.9 million.
In 2022, Gold Cross projected 13,000 nonpayers. So, at a very conservative average of $1,000 a run with 13,000 nonpayers, Central would be in the hole $13 million at year’s end and would have to hump it to come up with a 10 percent profit.
So, how is it the EMS Council could possibly recommend them as the zone provider when they haven’t even met with Augusta yet? What if Augusta says no? It’s pretty obvious that an EMS deal is not something six commissioners will easily agree on. So, if Augusta doesn’t give Central what they want, they won’t be the provider.
Listen Up, Bobby Bufoon!
“At the EMS Council’s zoning meeting Wednesday, Coker seemed to be advocating for Gold Cross just as much as his own company,” Vincent said. “He said Gold Cross wasn’t to blame for their response times, the commission is for not paying them.”
Coker said, “If the commission decides they don’t want to pay to have the service for their citizens, I can’t do it. My brain doesn’t operate in the negatives. I don’t think it’s Gold Cross’s fault ambulances didn’t get there. I think it’s the commission’s. Follow the dollar. It costs money to run a quality company. If you’re not going to do that, we’re not interested.”
Gold Cross continues to stay professional even though they are continually being attacked, Vincent said.
Bobby Williams jumped up as quickly as he could to bash Gold Cross before the Council. He said they have no QRVs, (Gold Cross has had a QRV in Augusta for 17 years). Williams also said people are dying waiting on ambulances, although the state office of EMS verified they have had zero complaints on Gold Cross relating to anyone dying waiting on an ambulance.
But most importantly, Williams said, he would just rather not deal with Gold Cross.
The EMS Council zoning committee didn’t even try to stop the attacks. They’re probably still mad that Gold Cross sued them a few years back when conflict of interest issues arose when Fire Chief Chris James was leading the council and the charge against Gold Cross.
“So, this zoning committee did exactly what they weren’t supposed to do,” Vincent said. “They started making accusations and questioning Gold Cross instead of focusing on their application like they were supposed to. If the questioning of the three companies wasn’t biased, I don’t know what would be.”
MORE: Column: Augusta commissioners under the gun to decide about ambulance service
Vincent was grilled over and over, yet Central wasn’t asked about any complaints their company has had. Amerimed, which doesn’t even currently handle any 911 calls anywhere, wasn’t asked a single question about complaints.
“So, they award the zone to a company that doesn’t have a contract with Augusta,” Vincent said. “The president of that company says he can’t come to Augusta without a lucrative contract. But let’s give it to them anyway in hopes they can come to some sort of agreement. All the while we keep using Gold Cross on the month to month.”
If the full Region 6 EMS Council doesn’t reject the zoning committee’s recommendations Monday, maybe the state Department of Public Health will when the matter comes there for a final vote.
Note to Readers
I know you’re tired of reading about Gold Cross and ambulance service, but it’s truly a life and death issue, plus I’ve seen first-hand what an injustice the company has suffered at the hands of the former mayor and some former and current conniving commissioners. And I agree with Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle’s comment about Gold Cross, “I’ve never seen a company treated as bad as this company has been treated.”
Augusta’s Buildings are Falling Down, Falling Down, Falling Down
Why? Because of some incompetent department directors and deputy department directors with big salaries and little brains who couldn’t organize a one-car funeral are in charge. And a governing body who spent $83 million of federal American Rescue Money and millions more of CARES Act money on employee raises, bonuses, a bridge to nowhere and such, like there was no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow, and it will soon be today to our eternal regret when the money is all gone and the upsized payroll still has to be met. Several million went to fill the deficit in the streetlight program. But without raising streetlight fees, the deficit will return. So, get ready to pay more for that.
Meanwhile, the streetlights are still out on Greene Street although all of the bad publicity they’ve created has gotten somebody’s attention, so residents there won’t have to wait forever and a day for lights. But Lake Olmstead still looks like a war zone and fixing the drainage system in the scoring tower at Diamond Lakes Regional Park is going to end up taking five years and costing almost $2 million because a succession of contractors weren’t held accountable for their work. I remember talking to a lady who worked there, and she said that one contractor would come out and work, and they’d think everything was working fine, but it wasn’t. Then another would come and try his hand at fixing the drains. The building was filled with mold and mildew, and they couldn’t use the restrooms. And glory be! They still can’t.
MORE: Column: Augusta’s been through some dark times, but things may be looking up
And how did conditions reach crisis proportions at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center and nobody said anything about it until Sheriff Richard Roundtree brought to commissioners’ attention a week ago and asked for $486,872.90 in emergency funding to replace the dishwasher and laundry equipment? The equipment was so old and outdated, they’re having to send the laundry out, inmates are eating on Styrofoam plates and the cooks are having to mix food for a thousand inmates by hand.
I would talk about that former gem on the river, the Boathouse that’s rotting away, but Augusta Press Columnist John Clarke covered that subject well on Monday.
The Augusta Press did shame some folks in the Marble Palace into getting somebody to replace some of the missing bricks in Riverwalk by showing pictures of the lawsuits waiting to happen there. And they hired a private engineering firm for $7 million to help Recreation Director Maurice McDowell do his job and get other recreation sites presentable.
And last but not least, commissioners are encouraging staff to come up with a plan to consolidate all the lot cleanup and grass cutting into one department. Maybe even create a new department! That ought to do it. More departments, bigger government. Oh well, if they can get the grass cut, that will be progress.
Sylvia Cooper is a columnist with The Augusta Press. Reach her at sylvia.cooper@theaugustapress.com
