The Leflore County Board of Supervisors revisited the issue of ambulance response time Monday, expressing concern over information in time sheets provided by MedStat, the county’s emergency medical response service.
At a recent meeting, supervisors heard a proposal from Pafford Emergency Services that promised a response time of eight minutes 90 percent of the time within the city and 15 minutes in the rest of the county, under foreseeable circumstances.
Pafford is vying to replace MedStat in Greenwood and Leflore County. The family-owned company runs ambulance services in Cleveland, Clarksdale and other locations across Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Supervisors voiced dismay over several aspects of the report they received from MedStat.
District 2 Supervisor Robert Moore was concerned that the report did not include the time the call was received and the time the ambulance arrived, as requested.
County Administrator Christine Lymon said information had been withheld due to federal requirements that protect patient privacy. Nonetheless, supervisors were alarmed by what appeared to be an average response time of 21 minutes.
“It’s to a point where we’ve got to make a decision,” District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham said. “A 21-minute average, that’s getting too far.”
Supervisors asked Lymon to provide the requested information in a revised report and asked that both companies be invited to attend the next board meeting.
In other county business:
• Beth Stevens and Eleanor Braswell of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce asked that the supervisors raise their membership to a new level that would cost the county slightly more than it has paid in the past.
Currently the board donates $10,000 per year to support two major chamber events: the Roy Martin Delta Band Festival and Christmas Parade and the annual summer Stars and Stripes celebration.
Stevens proposed that the county invest in a $5,000 top-level membership and accept a $1,500 credit to be applied to its regular donation. That would increase the amount the county spends at the chamber from $10,000 to $13,500 annually.
Abraham asked Stevens, “What’s the chance of the chamber getting together with other community organizations to put on the balloon festival?” Last year’s Balloon and Music Fest, which was privately run, ended in numerous financial disputes with vendors.
Stevens said that possibility was being discussed but, for the moment, the chamber is “letting the dust settle.”
Abraham requested that the due date of payment on the county’s membership be moved from May 1 to Oct. 1 to better conform with the county’s budgeting process and fiscal year. Stevens said the chamber would work with the county on an adjustment to meet that goal.
No action was taken.
• Consultant Ed Hargett of Corrections Management Services, Inc. of Charleston presented supervisors with a new contract for services to manage the 200-bed Leflore County Jail.
Hargett has been involved in negotiations between the county and Mississippi Department of Corrections to lease vacant space at the former Delta Correctional Facility, in which the jail is housed, to accommodate U.S. Marshals Service inmates.
Supervisors approved Hargett’s one-year contract.
• Supervisors approved changes to the county’s contract for health services with Greenwood Leflore Hospital and the Leflore County Health Department for detainees at the juvenile justice facility. Judge Kevin Adams said the changes were minimal and were in response to Department of Justice requirements to bring the facility into compliance with federal mandates.
• Supervisors signed off on close-out documents for the EPA grant that supported building of the Itta Bena pumping station. Steve Russell of the North Central Planning and Development District, the grant administrator, said work on the station is complete.
• Lymon recommended that supervisors accept all depository bids from local banks to hold county funds, with Planters Bank as custodian of accounts. Supervisors approved her recommendation.
• County Engineer Robert Willis reported that federal inspectors had closed Blue Lake Bridge in the county as part of a statewide sweep that closed some 100 Mississippi bridges.
Willis said the county will have to decide whether to repair the bridge and upgrade its load capacity at the cost of $650,000 or replace it for $2 million.
Supervisors urged Willis to watch for possible federal funds under the new Trump administration that might finance the bridge repair. They agreed to continue discussing the matter until a course of action is chosen. The bridge will remain closed in the meantime.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
