City advises service cannot operate under previous deal
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City of Port Arthur residents in need emergency medical assistance may find themselves without a familiar and longtime ambulance service provider – at least for a while.
During a special meeting of the Port Arthur City Council on Nov. 13, elected officials discussed the operations of ambulance services in the city. After a closed session with the city attorney, Mayor Thurman Bill Bartie said no action was taken on the issue.
Prior to the meeting, Nov. 10, Acadian Ambulance Services officials said a letter from the city of Port Arthur was received advising the company that it would no longer be able to operate under the terms of the previous agreement while parties continue to clarify the terms of the new proposed agreement, according to a company statement.
The statement noted that the city council recently presented a one-year, nonexclusive agreement for Acadian Ambulance to continue operations within the city limits. The city established a deadline of Nov. 10 for execution of the agreement by Acadian Ambulance.
According to Randall Mann, vice president of Public Relations and Marketing, Acadian Ambulance issued the stateme
nt because some of the first media reports were that Acadian wasn’t communicating and meeting with the city. “Honestly, we don’t know where that came from because we have met with several people several times,” Mann said.
“We got the initial contract and had some questions, so we met with them several times about some concerns and issues with how they were going to do it,” Mann advised. “Some of it hadn’t been fully developed yet. It was just a lot of questions on both sides.”
According to the Acadian statement, over the past several weeks, Acadian officials have met with several city officials, including Fire Chief Gregory Benson and City Manager Ronald Burton, to discuss operational details and seek clarification on how the new, multi-provider system would be implemented.
Mann said Acadian was working with city officials and the city attorney to iron out details still in question.
“They gave us a deadline of Nov. 10 to sign the contract as it was. They didn’t change a thing,” Mann said. “We were trying to work through some questions and answers and could not sign the contract as presented. We are still very hopeful to work something out because our desire is to stay there and service the city. The agreement they presented was unworkable, mainly operational stuff.”
During discussions, Acadian continued to provide service in the city under the terms of the previous agreement. In the recently released company statement, Acadian officials advised receipt of a letter from the city indicating the ambulance service would no longer be able to operate while in negotiation.
“We’ve been bringing up issues and even gave a proposed amendment to the agreement to the city attorney. We’ve been meeting with them constantly trying to get things worked out then they send us a letter,” Mann explained. “We understood and we were still operating under the previous agreement, which had expired. They said, since you haven’t signed before 5 p.m. Nov. 10, we weren’t authorized. So, we stopped operating.”
Mann added that Acadian is hopeful and optimistic they can get a contract worked out with the city.
Last month, the city council passed an ordinance to allow bringing in another ambulance company, City Ambulance, citing a hope to improve response time. According to Acadian Ambulance President Justin Back, the company has operated in Port Arthur for 17 years and has been the 911 provider for the last 13 years.
“We have no interest in leaving the city, its citizens or the health care facilities with whom we have long-standing relationships,” Back said, to which Mann added that the company is only seeking clarification on its role in the city’s ambulance servicing needs.
Mann noted there was confusion on who would be responsible for what, and fines were involved.
“Fines are fine but there were some issues, like you had to cover for the other service if they couldn’t make the call and to be fined if you were late,” Mann said. “It was really hard to figure out how to staff properly.”
The city has a population of approximately 55,000 people as of the most recently reported census.