- April 25, 2024
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Flagler County officials will heed Palm Coast officials' requests to meet about ambulances and emergency medical services, but county officials aren't sure if they'll be able to do anything to help the city achieve its goals — or exactly what those are.
"Has anyone specified what the problem is that we’re trying to fix?" Commissioner Frank Meeker said at a County Commission meeting March 21. "Because I thought the only issue was they don't like taking large, $800,000 to million-dollar fire trucks out on emergency calls. I thought that was the only issue, really: How do you save money and not use those vehicles. I’m not sure why we’re involved in that discussion."
"We tried to explain that, we presented our ideas; they were dismissed quickly," County Administrator Craig Coffey replied. "We have some other ideas that we would like to meet with you and go over with you."
The details of providing emergency medical services have long frustrated the city. The city can't run its own ambulance service — it would need the county's consent to do that — so whenever a medical call comes in within the city limits, the city sends its paramedics to the scene on a fire truck. Fire trucks can't be used to transport the patients anywhere, so the city paramedics treat the patient at the scene until county paramedics arrive with an ambulance to take the patient to the hospital.
The fire trucks are expensive for the city to run, and sending them out at the same time as the county sends out an ambulance is a duplication of service, city officials said. At the same time, since seconds may count and city fire stations are often closer to patients than county ones, city officials don't want to just let the county take the medical calls on its own. At a City Council meeting March 8, Palm Coast Fire Department officials suggested adding county ambulances at city fire stations and sending out joint city/county paramedic crews on ambulances, rather than sending out a city fire truck from one fire station and a county ambulance from another.
Mayor Jon Netts sent a letter March 17 to County Commission Chairwoman Barbara Revels, requesting a joint City Council/County Commission meeting.
"Our City Council recently heard a presentation from the Palm Coast Fire Department that appears to have merit; we believe it is worth considering," Netts wrote. "The Palm Coast City Council would respectfully request a joint meeting with our two elected bodies and administrative staffs to discuss this proposal. This is an innovative approach that we believe has great potential to provide a higher level of service for all County residents, save lives and save taxpayer dollars."
County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin said he spoke to City Councilman Bill McGuire, "who wanted some help in cutting costs in his fire department. ... We talked about consolidation, we talked about sending a smaller truck. But I’m kind of with the Board (of County Commissioners) here on: What’s the problem were trying to fix? And if they want to save money, I can’t do that for them."
Coffey said he wished city officials had called county officials to a workshop to discuss it. "It would have made a lot more sense to us, because we could have handled some of these issues in front of them months ago," he said.
Revels said she would reply to Netts' letter.
