The company will replace the county's entire emergency medical fleet, including 54 ambulances and a critical care truck.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published May 26, 2004
CLEARWATER - After nearly two decades with the same ambulance service, Pinellas County will switch to a Texas company this year that promises new ambulances and faster response times.
County commissioners on Tuesday approved a five-year agreement with Paramedics Plus to operate the county's 54 paramedic ambulances. The name of the ambulance service will remain Sunstar, because the county owns the rights to that name.
The contract is worth at least $107-million, said Chuck Kearns, the county's director of emergency medical services. In its first year, Paramedics Plus will be paid $21.35-million. The county did not renew a contract with American Medical Response, or AMR, which has provided the county's ambulance service since 1987. AMR asked for $25.4-million annually.
"We're getting a higher quality of service," Kearns said. "We're getting that, and it's going to cost less money."
Paramedics Plus, which will start operating in Pinellas in October, provides ambulance service in east Texas and Oklahoma. County officials say the company has been in business since 1968.
Along with new management, Paramedics Plus will replace the county's entire emergency medical fleet, including 54 ambulances, a critical care truck and three supervisory vehicles, Kearns said.
Paramedics Plus also will distribute 10 automatic external defibrillators throughout the county each year and promises to improve nonemergency and emergency response times.
Now, Paramedics Plus ambulances answer about 170,000 emergency calls a year in Texas and Oklahoma combined. Pinellas, where the company will make about 107,000 runs annually, will be the company's largest operation.
As part of the agreement, Pinellas also will have two three-year options with the Texas company.
Kearns said no paramedics or emergency technicians will lose their jobs because of the change in companies. While the contract begins Oct. 1, Kearns said the changeover could be delayed up to two months while Paramedics Plus builds its new fleet.
In other news Tuesday:
County commissioners awarded a two-year, $33,500 annual contract to a Jacksonville company to add fluoride into the county's potable water system. County water now includes trace portions of fluoride, said Pick Talley, Pinellas County utilities director.
The additional fluoride will match the amount of fluoride in St. Petersburg's drinking water and be well below the maximum limit set by the Environmental Protection agency, Talley said.
Health Department director John Heilman said fluoride poses no threat to the public, but commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd voted against the proposal.
"I'm really concerned," Todd said.
The type of fluoride the county will buy is related to the production of phosphate, Heilman said. Along with fluoridating water, hydrofluorosilicic acid is used to tan animal hides, harden cement and preserve wood, according to Lucier Chemical Industries, the company awarded the contract.
Talley said the fluoride will be added to the county's water supply next month.
Commissioner Susan Latvala, who in February said she wanted to eliminate the Pinellas Planning Council, will be joining the advisory committee.
Latvala had said the independent board of city, county and school officials, was redundant and superfluous to county decisionmaking. The board levies a small tax and operates with a $1.3-million annual budget.
Commissioner Calvin Harris agreed to leave the council so Latvala can participate in the monthly planning council meetings.
"I thought you wanted to abolish them?" Todd asked.
"Well," Latvala responded, "I'm trying to build bridges."
