Cuts could curb Wellsville ambulance

Five months after opening it, the county commission could end the Wellsville ambulance station as a cost-cutting measure.

At least three commissioners said during a budget session Monday they would consider ending the satellite station.

Commission Chair Sue Farrell said the commission needs to look at all of its options before making a final decision.

“But this thing isn’t paying for itself,” she said.

Commissioner Ed Taylor said that the commission had decided to open the satellite ambulance station in Wellsville as an experiment and review it at the end of a year.

“It hasn’t worked,” Taylor said.

Commissioner Don Hay said that a study by the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services showed that a station in Wellsville wouldn’t be viable.

Hay said he pointed that out then but was ignored and he’s pointing it out again.

However, Commissioner Don Stottlemire said the decision to close the station comes after only five months.

Closing the station would be a mistake, he said.

Commissioner Roy Dunn also was skeptical.

Wellsville is in a fast-growing area and the ambulance station will be needed, he said.

“We do a lot of things for the future where we spend money,” Dunn said.

“We shouldn’t do that,” Hay replied.

In January, Franklin County EMS moved an ambulance to Wellsville as part of a deal with the city.

Wellsville rebuilt part of its fire station downtown to accommodate the ambulance and a 24-hour crew, and offered the space to the county at no cost for a year.

Recently, the city asked the county to pay $300 per month to cover additional utility charges the city has incurred because of the ambulance, Marvin Hutchinson, Wellsville city council member who attended Monday’s work session, said.

“That’s actually less than what it’s cost us,” Hutchinson said.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, Nick Robbins, Franklin County EMS director, did a cost analysis of the Wellsville station at the commissioners’ request.

Much of the increased utilities is because of telephone costs, Robbins said in his report. Robbins said he planned to connect the Wellsville station with an Internet connection, which would allow the crew to use an Internet-based phone system, which would cut telephone cost to nearly zero.

Robbins said he was requesting about $500 more for next year for cleaning and other supplies at the Wellsville station.

The largest cost would be fuel costs for “move ups,” he said.

There have been 20 times since January when the Wellsville ambulance had to move to LeLoup or to Ottawa when the two ambulances in Ottawa were on call, he said. Based on that number, Robbins said he would request $8,000 more for fuel for move-ups in 2009.

Since the ambulance was moved to Wellsville, it hasn’t generated any more appreciable increase in the number of calls EMS has received, he said.

During the budget session, Hutchinson reminded commissioners of his city’s efforts to get the ambulance to Wellsville.

“We’d like to have the ambulance in the community,” Hutchinson told commissioners. “We’ve worked hard for it and we’d like to keep it.”

Following the discussion, Hutchinson said Wellsville city officials would be disappointed by a decision to move the ambulance.

“I think it would be a mistake for them to move it,” he said.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe plans to build an “intermodal” rail-truck freight center at Gardner, which will cause a boom in residential and commercial growth in Wellsville, which would be next door to the new center, he said.

“It’s not a done deal yet, but it’s close,” Hutchinson said of the intermodal center.

Robbins said before the ambulance is moved, he would have to check with Ottawa city officials.

Originally, EMS had three ambulances on call in Ottawa — two at the main ambulance station, 291 E. 14th St., next to Ransom Memorial Hospital, and one at the Ottawa Fire Department, 720 W. Second St.

The ambulance that went to Wellsville came from the Ottawa Fire Department station.

According to an agreement between the county and city, the city agreed to station a fire truck and crew at the main ambulance station. However, after the county moved the ambulance, the city opted to keep a fire truck in the main ambulance station.

Robbins said he would have to talk to city officials to see if they would be willing to have the ambulance move back into the city fire station.