The City and County will soon have a joint work session to dissolve the existing Medical Control Authority agreement and board, which oversees the City and County’s ambulance contract and services. Daviess County Fiscal Court and the Owensboro Board of Commissioners have both approved orders to move forward in creating a new Ambulance Contracting Authority Board, which will have a new set of board members that oversees the contract and services related to AMR Ambulance.
“The City and County jointly contract for ambulance services, changing the provider this year on July 1,” Mattingly said. “We thought it was time to update the old MCA agreement — the ambulance has nothing to do with medical control.”
In dissolving the previous agreement and creating a new one, the number of board members on the Ambulance Contracting Authority Board will be reduced so that one representative from each relevant entity is appointed. There will be auxiliary and voting members on the board, Mattingly said.
The City passed a municipal order at the last City Commission for a memorandum of agreement for Emergency Medical Ambulance Services. This order authorized an agreement with the County to create the Ambulance Contracting Authority, which, as described by City Manager Nate Pagan, will have a sole function of administering the contract with AMR Ambulance.
“Oversight of the ambulance contract is currently provided by the Medical Control Authority, which will soon be disbanded,” Pagan said. “The new entity will have the same purpose, but a name that better reflects the service it provides. It also has a slightly different membership, including representation from the public.”
The new authority will have six members, Pagan added, with the City and County each having three appointments.
“Voting members will be the County fire chief, City fire chief, the County sheriff, City police chief and two from the general public,” Mattingly said at last week’s Fiscal Court meeting.
The 911 director, a representative from Owensboro Health Regional Hospital emergency room, and the City and County attorneys will serve as auxiliary members.
At the last Fiscal Court meeting, commissioners voted to pass their version of the resolution. A joint resolution will be voted upon that does away with the MCA. Mattingly said the City was currently working on scheduling a joint work session between both local government entities.
Once the City appoints their board members, City and County leaders will come together in January to vote on the new ambulance board and set up the bylaws.
This Ambulance Contracting Authority Board will look over the contract to make sure AMR Ambulance does exactly what Fiscal Court and the Owensboro Board of Commissioners have contracted them to do, Mattingly said.
“They have certain response times in certain areas,” he said. “They are actually the representatives of the City and County — that way, we don’t have to look over their shoulders.”
Fiscal Court approved DCSO Chief Deputy Major Barry Smith to serve as the County Sheriff’s Office designee from Jan. 1, 2020-Jan. 1, 2023.
Daviess County Fire Department Chief Jeremy Smith was approved to serve on the board from Jan. 1, 2020-Jan. 1, 2022.
Purchasing Agent Jordan Johnson was approved to serve on the Ambulance Contracting Authority Board from Jan. 1, 2020-Jan. 1, 2024.
Mattingly said Johnson was instrumental in revamping the annual contracting authority board, which replaces the current board.
“Each of them have different terms, and that’s for the first round. After that, they will be for four-year terms, but they will all be rotating,” said County Attorney Claud Porter. “That way, there will always be some members on the board who have had some experience on the board.”
Fiscal Court voted unanimously to dissolve the existing MCA and move forward with the new Ambulance Contracting Authority board, while City Commissioners voted in a 4-1 approval, with Commissioner Larry Conder voting against it.
