County open to ambulance bids
Midway Fire presses for RFP
Commissioner Goodin wants bids completed by March 30
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Santa Rosa County Commissioners decided this week to go out for bids on their countywide ambulance service. But they won't just be asking for one bid. They granted the request by Midway Fire District to ask for two bids from each ambulance service bidding - one including coverage of Midway, and one without Midway included.

"I am very pleasantly surprised," Midway Fire Commission Chairman Buck Thackeray said after the meeting. "We can thank Gordon Goodin for getting that done. This is all we asked for at this point."

The first question was whether the county commissioners would ask for bids, or renew the contract they have now with Rural Metro - or extend that contract for more time to consider options. The county had said if they went for bids, they would want the winning bidder to be ready to take over as of the county's fiscal year Oct. 1. However, County Commission Chair Tom Stewart told commissioners Rural Metro's fiscal year begins each June 1, so he thought they needed

to either make the bid requirement for the new contract to begin either this June 1, or June 1, 2008 and go ahead and extend Rural Metro until 2008. "I do not believe we can get it done by June 1 this year, so I believe we should just go ahead and renew Rural Metro until June 1, 2008 to give us all time to do this right," Stewart said.

But Commissioner Gordon Goodin of Navarre said he did not want this festering for another 18 months. "We have asked for our bids to be back to us by 4 p.m. March 30. We can't do this thing in two months?" County Administrator Hunter Walker said if they needed to, they would. But he said it would also depend on whether the winning bidder could have everything ready to go that fast. But Goodin also asked Rural Metro to come back to them before the final vote Thursday with what it would take to stay in place until Oct. 1 so the county could begin the new contract at the beginning of their fiscal year, instead of Rural Metro's. "If they can't do that, then I think we need to make the effective date June 1 this year. We need to get this wrapped up. The Fitch reports said we needed improvements in our ambulance service, and we don't need to wait 18 months to start making those improvements."

Then Goodin turned to a letter received by the county from the attorney for Midway Fire District, outlining why they would like the county to ask for two bids - one without Midway Fire District included. "Everything about this seems like it isn't feasible, and my instinct says it isn't feasible, to have a service cover the county without Midway included. But let's clear the air once and for all. I don't want any more rhetoric, I want some hard numbers. So I think we need to ask for two bids from each service, as Midway has requested." County Commissioner John Broxson of Gulf Breeze agreed.

After the meeting Chris Rucker, General Manager of Lifeguard Transportation, Inc., said his company will be one of the bidders, and they could be ready to take over the county coverage by June 1 if needed. John Roche, owner of Lifeguard, said "There were at least six ambulance services in there today, wanting to bid on this contract. It won't be about a low bid since the county is not paying anything to the ambulance services. It will be about quality and service. There have been new innovations over the past ten years in the industry, and there are many improvements that can be made in this county."

Midway Fire Chief Stephen Demeter said depending on what happens in the bid process his fire commission may not pursue operating its own ambulances.

"We would be open to working in a partnership with whoever wins that bid," Demeter said. He added that partnership might mean operating two ambulances to help out the south end. Or it might mean just working closer to help an ambulance company in the south end with first responder services.

"We understand the economics of the system, and we are willing to help in whatever way is best for that to work," Demeter said. He said he would bring the issue to his fire commission this week to decide if they still want to ask the school board to include them in their special election or not.