By JOE MAY | The Southern Standard
ARKADELPHIA, Arkansas — If a tightly packed courtroom for Monday evening’s meeting of the quorum court is any indication, it would appear that Clark County citizens do not want Pafford Emergency Medical Services to have the county 911 contract.
CLICK HERE to watch The Arkadelphian‘s Facebook livestream of the meeting.
As the meeting opened, Justice Jenna Scott requested that the agenda be changed to allow public comment on the issue of whether the county’s 911 contract should be awarded to Pafford, which earlier this year purchased the assets of Baptist Medical Center’s ambulance service, or Valor EMS, a locally owned company that has the 911 contract in neighboring Dallas County. Seconded by Justice Vanilla Hannah, the motion carried and it was decided that each speaker would have three minutes each to address the court; however, the time limit quickly faded and was not enforced.
Some 60 or so spectators filled the courtroom gallery for the court’s September meeting, many of them donning Valor EMS swag. Most of Monday’s hour-long meeting was yielded to public comment.
County Judge Troy Tucker noted that a citizen advisory committee had scored Pafford higher than Valor, leading to a 5-2 vote last week by the 911 board to recommend that Pafford receive the contract. The court will make the final recommendation.
First to speak was Caddo Valley Mayor Joe Jackson, who was one of the two “no” votes on the 911 committee. Jackson said he had concerns about four pending lawsuits filed against Pafford — one for medical negligence, one for negligence and one for automobile tort — which he said made him wonder about other suits filed in the past.
Jackson also noted that his own police chief, Ashley Collier, as well about 10 other first responders he had spoken with, have expressed concerns about Pafford’s poor response time. He urged justices to look into the matter.
“If you pick [Pafford], the blood of the county is on your hands, and if you don’t get re-elected, it’s your own dang fault.” — Arkadelphia resident Cameron Beene, addressing the Clark County Quorum Court
In response to a question concerning Pafford’s stance on mutual aid when one of their ambulances is not available, Chief Operating Officer Clay Hobbs then addressed the court, saying “We follow the mutual aid agreement as set by state law.”
He admitted that Pafford does not have a mutual aid agreement with Valor, but said that they do have an agreement with neighboring counties served by Pafford.
“We would be happy to enter into an agreement with them,” Hobbs said of Valor.
Jackson then questioned why Pafford did not have an agreement with Valor, to which Hobbs said the company had “reached out” to Valor, but had not received a response. The statement sparked many loud groans from the audience.
Following some other speakers, Valor CEO J.D. Windham addressed the court. Noting he had not intended to speak, he said Pafford had never approached his company concerning a mutual aid agreement: “That’s a blatant lie,” he asserted.
“None of them [in other counties] are happy [with Pafford] except the county judges. I don’t know why.”
— Gurdon Fire Chief Mitch Nolan
Hobbs also noted in response to an audience question that Pafford uses AWIN state radios, which many local fire departments do not yet have access to. This makes it difficult for first responders to know when or if an ambulance is headed to the scene, the questioner stated.
“We can’t buy a radio for the county,” Hobbs said.
Windham countered by saying that his ambulances are equipped with both AWIN and VHF radios that allow contact with the hospital and local fire departments.
Responding to Jackson’s statements on the suits, Hobbs said two of the lawsuits have been dismissed. Noting that often ambulance companies are named as defendants in other suits filed by patients, he commented that to have only four lawsuits out of hundreds of thousands of transports “is very, very few.”
Asked by Tucker if he wanted to refute any other statements from Jackson, Windham or any other speaker, Hobbs declined.
Others speaking included:
Cameron Beene, a former 20-year paramedic and current wrecker company owner who told the court that on July 21, he and his family had a harrowing experience with Pafford that began when his 11-year-old son broke his leg in a tubing accident on DeGray. In that case, Beene said he called Valor directly after “30 years” of working with Pafford, but that Valor’s ambulances were tied up. He then requested LifeNet, but Pafford refused to allow them to respond to their territory. When Pafford did show up in a reasonable amount of time, Beene said they sent a truck clearly marked as a paramedic vehicle with no paramedics aboard, meaning that his son could not be made properly comfortable on the transport to CHI in Hot Springs. Had the proper personnel been sent, he said, his son could have been spared a dangerous and painful ride to Hot Springs.
Beene became emotional at times as he recounted his son’s suffering that was caused by an improperly staffed truck, finally telling the court, “If you pick these people, the blood of the county is on your hands. And if you don’t get re-elected, it’s your own dang fault.”
Gurdon Fire Chief Mitch Nolan, a 12-year ambulance veteran and 30-year fireman, then spoke. He noted that when Pafford took over several months ago, they never contacted local fire departments.
“There’s always going to be delays and there’s several chiefs in this meeting that can back this up,” Nolan said, explaining that when a meeting with local chiefs finally was held, Pafford officials were asked if they were going to use Valor as mutual aid. Nolan quoted Pafford as saying that “we don’t feel like we can because of everything that has happened.”
Nolan then asked why Pafford would refuse to call an ambulance service “across town” and “instead call in one from another county.”
In addition, Nolan said that purchasing the assets of the Baptist ambulance service would have included the dispatching equipment, which was VHF-based. Noting the often long wait with no idea where an ambulance might be, he asked, “What are we [first responders] supposed to do for 30 minutes? Sit there and keep them comfortable?”
Regarding the radio situation, Nolan told Pafford representatives, “You can’t tell us one thing and then come in here and tell the quorum court something else.”
Pafford has a history of “saying one thing and doing something else,” Nolan said, stating that he had contacted officials in other counties served by Pafford — “and none of them are happy [with Pafford] except the county judges. I don’t know why.”
Noting that the selection committee had said the decision to rank Pafford higher than Valor was based on finances, Nolan said that seeing that Pafford “is in two states, I should hope they would have more money. Why shouldn’t a small service [like Valor] have their chance?”
Following the speakers, Tucker said his intent from the beginning was to allow the county to have the best service possible. At this an audible murmur went through the audience. “It’s an emotional issue,” Tucker said.
Tucker said he would soon be handing out the RFQs to justices. He then asked each one to sign a non-disclosure form regarding the companies’ finances.
At the motion of Justice Jimmy King, the court opted to call a special meeting in the next two weeks to make the final decision on the 911 contract after justices have a chance to look over the RFQs. It was also requested that representatives of both companies be present to answer questions.
In other business, the court also approved an appropriations ordinance.