KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — The Kaufman County Commissioners’ Court will hold an emergency meeting to vote on an emergency medical services contract to replace the outgoing East Texas Medical Center ambulatory services at least until the end of 2015.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas — The Kaufman County Commissioners’ Court will hold an emergency meeting to vote on an emergency medical services contract to replace the outgoing East Texas Medical Center ambulatory services at least until the end of 2015.
The emergency meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 27, 2015, at 10 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Court Meeting Room at the Kaufman County Annex building which is located at 100 North Washington Street in Kaufman, Texas.
East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) alerted county and city officials of their plans to withdraw from Kaufman County late January 2015. An exact withdrawal date was unknown until the city of Terrell most recently entered into a contract with CareFlite to replace ETMC’s contract effective March 1, 2015.
The city of Kaufman is set to discuss and vote on their contract with CareFlite on Thursday, February 26, 2015, according to their posted Kaufman City Council agenda. That meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Kaufman City Hall.
The emergency meeting was called in pursuant to Texas Government Code 551.045(b)(1), according to Kaufman County Attorney John Long. “This constitutes an emergency because it pertains to the imminent health and safety of the citizens,” he said.
Under the code, the court is only required to give a two hour notice for a posted agenda on an emergency meeting but are giving approximately two days after the agenda was posted earlier today, according to Long.
“This is not due to a lack of planning on this court’s part,” said Long. “Rather, the emergency is because we have been notified that the contract is going to be either breached and/or assigned against the very terms of the contract and we need to do something.”
Despite the emergency meeting, county officials were able to squeeze in some concessions into the proposed contract with CareFlite, according to Kaufman County Emergency Management Coordinator Steve Howie who said the county should see reduced response times.
Terrell’s contract calls for two ambulances stationed in their city, Kaufman’s contract will likely call for one ambulance, and the county’s contract, which includes Forney, will include three ambulances — which is what ETMC currently operates throughout the county.
ETMC and CareFlite have already entered into a mutual aid agreement in case additional ambulances are needed. However, depending on the location, additional ambulances will likely come from CareFlite’s current service areas in Dallas County or Ellis County, according to Howie.
Any contract entered would be labeled an “interim contract” and not to exceed 12 months, Howie stated during the commissioners’ court meeting. The county will seeks bids from other vendors before the interim contract expires.
