San Luis Ambulance has held the County’s emergency medical transport contract since 1945. Photo courtesy San Luis Ambulance
For the first time in decades, San Luis Obispo County might get a new ambulance service provider, and one that’s government run.
The Morro Bay City Council was scheduled to take up a proposal for a public-private partnership led by Paso Robles to put together a bid for a mutual ambulance system that would bring all the cities in SLO County and the unincorporated areas as well, under an umbrella to take over providing emergency ambulance service.
According to a report from Morro Bay Fire Chief Daniel McCrain that the Council was slated to address at its Sept. 8 meeting, SLO County hasn’t gone out for bids for contracted ambulance service for many decades.
According to the San Luis Ambulance website, the company has had the contract since 1945, some 80 years (see: https://sanluisambulance.info)
“The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors,” Chief McCrain said, “holds the statutory authority to contract for ambulance services within the County by the State EMS Act.
“Ambulance transport services are currently provided to the entire county by San Luis Ambulance Services. The County is preparing to release a competitive process to award the ambulance services contract, which represents a critical opportunity to modernize and improve EMS delivery Countywide.”
The County’s bidding process will follow other bidding rules. “The County will receive bids for the provision of these services, and the County alone will decide what entity will provide those services throughout the County.”
It should be noted that this action only involves ambulance service not the normal emergency duties of a local fire department.
“Currently,” the Chief said, “the City of Morro Bay, through its Fire Department, is responsible for providing fire, EMS (emergency medical service) first-response, hazardous materials mitigation, and rescue operations within our jurisdictional boundary. However, ambulance transport services are contracted through the County.”
Though the State Law recommends going out for bids every 10 years, Chief McCrain said the County has kept its contract with San Luis Ambulance for many decades, extending it repeatedly. The County Grand Jury has twice looked at the situation, and both times recommended Supervisors go out for bids on what is an exclusive contract.
Last year Supervisors authorized the staff to seek bids on a new contract, which is up for renewal sometime soon. The idea of having local governments collectively put together a bid and take over the service has been slow cooking for months. And a board made up of the city managers and another with the local fire chiefs has endorsed the idea.
“The seven incorporated cities’ city managers and the San Luis Obispo County Fire Chiefs Association,” Chief McCrain said, “have unanimously expressed their support for the City of Paso Robles, acting as the Lead Agency, to submit a bid for the County ambulance services contract on behalf of the cities that join the endeavor.”
If this co-op bid wins the contract, it would mean signing a Memorandum of Agreement and forming a new agency with a committee to oversee the new system.
“If this bid is successful,” Chief McCrain said, “the provision of ambulance services will be managed by all cities that opt to join the ambulance association. This initiative is intended to foster a community-based EMS model with stronger accountability and transparency.”
The main difference appears to be who is in charge of the contract. Currently, the Supervisors oversee the private ambulance company. Under the new-fangled approach, the committee would oversee Paso Robles, which would operate the ambulance service under a contract with a private company. And yet, adding more middlemen and putting a government committee in charge of oversight, would apparently bare beneficial fruits for citizens.
Chief McCrain’s report said, “The Paso Robles-led model will:
• Provide an innovative EMS delivery model where the City of Paso Robles serves as the lead agency, subcontracting to a private ambulance provider, with oversight provided by an executive committee made up of the seven cities’ city managers ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Enhance service delivery with greater local involvement and oversight.
• Provide additional funding for EMS-centric programs and allow reinvestment into City EMS services.
• Foster regional cooperation by uniting the cities, community service districts, and fire agencies in a shared vision for EMS improvement.
• Support proactive and preventative programs addressing mental health, substance abuse, and services for un-housed community members.
• Reinvest excess revenues after operational costs back into local communities to improve public health outcomes.
The report asks the City Council to approve a Resolution in support of moving forward with the framework for putting together a bid, which is a process that would be open to San Luis Ambulance, as well as any other private ambulance service company that might be interested.
The idea has been met with some resistance at another board made up of all the Mayors in the county.
One potential concern for Estero Bay communities is that San Luis Ambulance has a base office on Bonita Street in North Morro Bay where the ambulance crew that serves Morro Bay, Cayucos and Los Osos resides. If the company loses the contract, the community could lose that base of operations and a new one would have to be established.
Also, the start-up costs for a government-run service have not been announced, but it could be expected that as a new agency starting from nothing, the costs could at least initially be high.
Chief McCrain said this system is catching on elsewhere.
“Multiple counties throughout the state are transitioning away from traditional service delivery models to public private partnerships,” he said. “These partnerships combine the strengths of government oversight, transparency, and accountability with the service delivery expertise of the private ambulance industry.”
The ambulance proposal sounds a lot like the community energy system that swept the state, including SLO County.
There, a non-profit quasi-public agency with a governing board made up of elected officials, took over purchasing and delivery of electricity, using the utility company’s actual distribution system to bring the power to customers.
Community energy companies have also set up programs to return a portion of their profits to customers and to promote so-called renewable green energy sources.
This new-fangled electric delivery system wasn’t touted as a cost savings, rather, it was sold as a way to fight climate change by supporting the green energy industry and promised to purchase electricity only from renewable, non-carbon emitting sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric.
