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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2023)
(,*+7+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQWednesday, December 27, 2023 Board of Commissioners Meeting 0RUURZ&RXQW\6KHUL൵V2൶FH parties previously interest- an update for ambulance MCHD personnel—about ed in providing ambulance service every commission swears in two new deputies eight out of 10 positions. services. The draft was then &RQWLQXHGIURP3$*(21( “This is excellent for provider peer-review, case- by-case incidents,” said Jensen. “In an ASA where we would potentially have service agreements with providers, we expect that to happen under the provid- ers, and then the providers report the generalities up to this advisory committee.” If the proposed plan is adopted, the EMS Advi- sory Committee would be appointed by the board of commissioners and would review the overall per- formance of ambulance services, reconcile system performance issues, hear and reconcile issues be- tween providers, consider requests for new providers, and review the ASA every ¿YH\HDUV “We’re looking at this committee to be more of, if there’s multiple or a single provider, how do we re- solve system performance LVVXHV"´ KH VDLG ³$UH ZH KDYLQJ GHOD\V LQ FDOORXWV" Do we need additional sta- WLRQV"´ One change, a major bone of contention, es- tablishes three ambulance service areas within the county to provide the op- tion of multiple ambulance service providers. Jensen said the county is looking at a general division of the Boardman area, Irrigon area, and South County. “This is not unheard of, and it’s not necessarily saying that we’re going to divide the county into three providers,” Jensen said. “It just says we have this option based on population. “Nowhere in this draft does it designate the provid- er,” he added. “There has been no decision to undo or dismantle the ambulance services of right now.” Jensen said he believed the three areas reflected MCHD’s current setup, which generally works. “However, if there is WKH ¿VFDO WKH FDOORXW DQG the logistical opportunity for a provider to come in, we need to be able to review that independently, with an independent recommenda- tion to the county,” he said. He added that assump- tions that Boardman Fire would be a provider were R൵EDVHDVWKHFRXQW\KDG not received a proposal from Boardman Fire. “My apologies, chief,” he addressed Hughes. “I don’t even know if you’re capable because I have not seen anything.” Jensen also said that Irrigon, for instance, is growing, and there might be a time when that city or other communities in the county want to provide their own ambulance services. “We should be able to allow them to break free,” he said. He also pointed out that a committee controlled by an interested party such as a provider could create issues RIFRQÀLFWHWKLFVDQGODFN of transparency. “I’m not making those charges against the health district, but it creates the window of opportunity for them,” he added. “When you put it as an independent advisory committee with the commission approving or disapproving, you pro- vide a layer of transparency and accountability.” The new plan also up- dates technical require- ments to refer to OHA and Oregon Revised Statutes standards rather than specif- ic details that may become outdated. Jensen said the county had already gone through the development of the draft, including input from updated and submitted to the OHA for review. Future steps will in- FOXGH ¿QDO XSGDWHV IHHG- EDFN2+$¿QDOUHYLHZD public hearing, and possible adoption of the ASA by the board of commissioners. Following the adop- tion of the ASA plan, the county will advertise for ambulance providers and designate initial providers. Jensen said the county is looking at several options for determining initial pro- viders, all of which have pros and cons. Options include having the board of commissioners make the determination, having the new EMS Advisory Committee make a recom- mendation, or having an ad-hoc committee make the recommendation. He said having the BOC make the decision would follow statutory guidelines and be the quick- est solution, but that the commissioners don’t have expertise in ambulance services and it might overly expose EMS services to a potential political decision. If the EMS committee were to make a recommen- dation, on the other hand, having providers on the committee might create FRQÀLFWV RI LQWHUHVW LQ GH- cision-making. An ad-hoc committee would be a small group of industry experts who would hopefully be impar- tial in recommending an initial provider and service agreement. However, such a committee is not currently outlined in the ASA, and the determination of the committee could also be seen as politically slanted. The Next 90 Days Jensen said the county’s original consideration had been to work with the health district to provide continu- ing ambulance services during the implementation of the new ASA. However, with MCHD’s 90-day no- tice to discontinue service, Morrow County will need to have an alternate plan in place by Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Jensen called MCHD’s decision “regret- table.” “They say, ‘We need a service agreement before we can agree to an ambu- lance service plan.’ I’m saying, I can’t give you a service agreement until we have an ambulance service plan,” said Jensen. “So it’s a chicken and egg kind of conversation.” The 90-day timeframe leaves the county with a tight timeline and limited options. Jensen said they will explore all options as necessary, including continued discussion with MCHD. “They’ve expressed that desire. We’ll be ex- ploring that,” he said. “We will be in touch with them and want to work with them because they are a strategic partner on this and other things and they deserve that consideration as more or less our incumbent.” Barring that, the county might seek new providers to assume ambulance ser- vices, interim operations through agreements with neighboring providers, interim operations under county management or a combination of those. Jensen admitted that the county didn’t yet have a plan because the health district’s decision was un- expected. However, he stressed that ambulance services would continue in all three areas regardless. “We want to engage in a very participatory pro- gram, and I will be having meeting as we go through this process,” he said. He also said he chal- lenged comments that ac- cused the county of lack of transparency. “There are certain things in government that the elected bodies need to do, and it’s on our public schedule. That’s not a lack of transparency,” Jensen said. “That means our resi- dents need to participate in the government process and come to the meetings and be informed and participate.” “I know this is change,” -HQVHQ ¿QLVKHG ³,W¶V KDUG 6KHUL൵-RKQ%RZOHVVZHDUVLQWZRQHZ0RUURZ&RXQW\3DWURO'HSXWLHV3DWURO'HSXW\ to change, but we feel like Nick Berg on the right and Patrol Deputy Ryan Freeland. - Contributed Photo this is a change to get us into compliance with stat- utory requirements and that we can go forward and have a good relationship with providers.” Jensen said he plans to have updates and infor- mation on the ASA on the county website. The next meeting of the Morrow County Board of Commis- sioners is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3, in Heppner. 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