Is it Déjà vu, Groundhog Day or merely a recurring nightmare? Take your choice. When it comes to the Augusta ambulance fiasco, they all can apply because it keeps happening over, and over, and over.
If there are those who believe there is no behind-the-scenes collusion of any kind taking place, then perhaps those non-believers are just not paying attention.
This scenario being played out in plain sight seems vaguely familiar. Remember a few short years ago when the self-anointed “Three Kings of Babylon” tried to start Augusta’s own city-owned and operated ambulance service?
Then Mayor Hardie Davis, fire department Chief Chris James and Commissioner Sammie Sias tried in vain to build a city fleet of ambulances. Shouted for all to hear that it would bring in millions of dollars a year into the city’s revenues. No one believed it then, and the setup failed.
The fire department did manage to acquire four ambulances for public patient transport. The fire department billed but failed to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in transport fees. The taxpayers again ate the loss and footed the bills.
All the while, the morale plummeted of the men and women of the fire department who were trained to fight fires and put their lives on the line while doing because they were also required to pull duty on the ambulances. When short staffed, the then-chief would pull a fire truck unit off line so as to keep employees on the ambulances.
This practice was met with well-deserved defiance from the city’s fire fighters. Augusta lost several good people from the department because of this doomed-from-the-start program.
The fire department still has in its possession the four ambulances it acquired. Only one is reported to be in operating condition. No answer as to why this has occurred.
In this past week’s commission meeting, Central EMS President Coker was asked a basic, fundamental question: would Central be required to maintain the eight ambulances it specified in its bid for the EMS zone?
“YES and NO” was Mr Coker’s answer. YES to the number in the zone application. No to the commitment if Augusta did not pay the subsidy needed or Zero subsidy.
And, of course, we faced a crisis when Gold Cross finally had enough and walked away, forcing Central to go ahead and start providing service. They are doing the job now with no MOU or contract in place, which puts them in an excellent position to negotiate.
So, let’s see where this may be heading. Augusta’s 911 center will handle all of the ambulance dispatches. Augusta pays for this, so Central needs no subsidy for that service. The fire department will provide housing for the ambulances. Again, Central would need no subsidy for housing.
Now Central keeps saying the required subsidy will depend on how many ambulances will be required and depends on desired response times, which means Augusta’s service needs will determine the amount of subsidy.
Now, let’s take a closer look at what’s being presented and where this could likely be heading.
When an agreement is reached, the test begins. Now, the following is purely conjecture from this columnist’s thoughts.
Maybe Central finds that the subsidy agreed to is not enough to fulfill the commitments. They may come back for more subsidies like they did in another city where they provide service.
The commission will have a choice to provide more of the taxpayer’s money or fall back on the King’s of Babylon’s build “our” on ambulance service.
After all, Augusta does all of the dispatching already, and Augusta houses all of the ambulances. So, a simple solution would be to purchase the ambulances from Central and switch all of the employees over to the already-overburdened Augusta payroll. Let the tax payers get it online. After all, it will return millions and millions into Augusta’s coffers.
Remember, this is purely conjecture. This would indeed be disastrous.
This past week’s behavior of some commissioners and some committee members was indeed a sight to behold and a sorrowful thing to listen to.
When Central’s Mr. Coker was asked if he had any objections to negotiating the ambulance contract in the public’s view, to Coker’s credit, he answered he would not have a problem doing so. After all, he wants to be transparent.
That brought Commissioner Jordon Johnson to again ramble on and on about how it was already agreed that the commission would not be involved with the negotiations. After all, the commissioners weren’t experts.
I guess that meant that the five that put Gold Cross out to pasture were indeed the experts. It does seem Commissioner Johnson doesn’t want the taxpayers to know what’s really going on.
Commissioner Bobby Williams was in full blown “Act The Fool” mode. Interrupting everyone and talking over everyone including the mayor, being belligerent to the people who spoke at the podium and acting confrontational with all who came into his path.
As Commissioner Sean Frantom was asking a pertinent question, Commissioner Williams again interrupted with, “This is Gold Cross bull-crap.”
Commissioner Frantom then delivered the best come back one liner heard in chambers in a while; to Commissioner Williams he replied, “You need help. ”
Answers to this ambulance ruse are supposed to be forthcoming in the next commission meeting. We will all hold our breaths. The commission is taking the Master’s break this week.
My guess is they don’t want our company to catch a glimpse of how dysfunctional most of the commissioners and leaders really are.
Remember that while our guests are in town, traffic will be heavy. Traffic patterns have changes in a few places. Lane changes on Riverwatch for one. There will be exiting and entering on the parkway from a parking lot by Eisenhower Park. Be careful.
If you are headed downtown on Washington Road, stay in the extreme left lane. Returning, stay in the right lane. Have patience. Remember we the people are the real ones that represent Augusta.
Congratulations to our Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson. Finally bringing all of the Mayors and government leaders from our adjoining cities and counties are included in Master’s week festivities.
Master’s reception at the Augusta Commons is free, so there is no excuse for not attending and having a great time.
