With a May 8 state deadline looming, the subcommittee charged with steering the direction of Augusta’s new EMS program is in place.
The subcommittee was requested by Gary Coker, president of Central EMS, Augusta’s new state-designed provider that will replace longtime provider Gold Cross.
In related news, Roswell-based Central announced Tuesday it was holding a job fair next week for supervisors, EMTs and paramedics. The event will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 20-21 at the Hilton Garden Inn on Stevens Creek Road.
The subcommittee approved by the commission at the special called meeting includes six Augusta employees: Administrator Takiyah Douse, General Counsel Wayne Brown, Fire Chief Antonio Burden, 911 Director Daniel Dunlap and Procurement Director Geri Sams.
In addition, recommended by Mayor Garnett Johnson, are Piedmont Augusta CEO Lily Henson and Augusta University Medical Center Emergency Medicine Specialist Becky Abell. With a third representative from Doctors Hospital, the hospital members will serve in an advisory capacity, providing “input and expertise from the medical community,” Johnson said.
Coker said the subcommittee will develop criteria for the system such as response times, the number of ambulances needed, staff skill levels and the type of vehicles and equipment.
“We need to have this data so we can decide what type of system you want built,” Coker said. “Once we get that laid on the table by your committee, we will then develop the cost that it’s going to be, and we want the cost to be where the government gets the best they can for the dollars they spend and the company can be profitable so it will be here next year and the next.”
The mayor and Commissioner Sean Frantom stressed the need for the subcommittee’s meetings to be open. Commissioner Jordan Johnson questioned having the public present for contract negotiations. “I just want to make sure when we get into negotiations that we’re out of the equation, and that y’all don’t have the press and folks breathing down your neck,” Jordan Johnson said.
“The intent would be initially that we keep it open to the public, but once contract negotiations began, that would be a closed process,” the mayor said.
‘We want our rowing club back’
The city Public Services committee approved allocating $500,000 from Parks and Recreation sales tax funds for immediate repairs needed at the Boathouse so Augusta Rowing Club could resume using it as a headquarters.
With the rowing club in attendance, Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle sparred with city Senior Staff Attorney Samuel Meller over the meaning of the 1996 lease with the club, which city attorneys say states the club is responsible for all maintenance and repairs.
The city has held functions at the former riverfront restaurant, done some maintenance and leased the now-dilapidated space to other private groups for events for many years. It was closed during the pandemic then heavily damaged when frozen pipes burst.
Guilfoyle claimed the lease only required the club to be responsible for “a defined area,” but Meller maintained it actually specifies the entire property.
As Meller and Brown conferred over the document, Frantom asked Augusta Rowing Club coach Brad Holdren to speak.
“We want our rowing club back,” he said. “It was not our fault that the damage occurred, and we would like to get the area cleaned up and get back to functioning as we have. We understand that the lease is interesting. I’m not a lawyer; I don’t understand it.”
Asked to present estimates for fully repairing the building, interim Central Services Director Ron Lampkin presented a chart with a total price tag of $5.125 to $5.835 million. The water damage alone would cost $300,000 to $500,000 to address, a new deck would be $2 million, the interior another $2.9 million and a roof, $200,000.
After the meeting, the mayor asserted the building is not worth saving.
“I think that facility needs to be razed, and we need to put a marquee facility on our river that the community can be proud of,” he said. “Now is the time we have a conversation not only about he future of that facility, but a future that provides longevity regarding our ability to offer programs, conferences, rowing events, Ironman events. I think it also need to include a hospitality component.”
