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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 05/24/12 Joint Elected OfficialsMINUTES Joint Elected Officials Lane County, City of Eugene, City of Springfield, Lane Rural Fire /Rescue Bascom - Tykeson Room — Eugene Public Library 100 West 10` Avenue — Eugene, Oregon May 24, 2012 Noon EUGENE COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Brown, Pat Farr, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Chris Pryor. EUGENE COUNCILORS ABSENT: Alan Zelenka. SPRINGFIELD COUNCILORS PRESENT: Hillary Wylie, Joe Pishioneri, David Ralston, Sheri Moore, Sean Van Gorden, Marilee Woodrow. LANE COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Sid Leiken, Faye Stewart, Jay Bozievich. LANE COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Peter Sorenson, Rob Handy. BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: John Baxter, Larry VonMoos, Pete Holmes, Jim Drew. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. Lane Board of County Commissioners Chair Sid Leiken called the meeting of the Lane Board of County Commissioners to order. Her Honor Mayor Christine Lundberg called the Springfield City Council to order. Lane Rural Fire /Rescue Board of Directors President Baxter called the Lane Rural Fire /Rescue Board of Directors to order. A. ADJUSTMENTS TO AGENDA There were none. MINUTES —Joint Elected Officials May 24, 2012 Page 1 Lane County, City of Eugene, City of Springfield, Lane Rural Fire/Rescue B. AMBLANCE TRANSPORT SYSTEM Mr. Bozievich noted the members of the intergovernmental Ambulance Transport Task Force, which included himself, Ms. Ortiz, Mr. Clark, Mr. Van Gordon, Ms. Woodrow, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Drew. He said the elected officials were supported by the staff of the Eugene - Springfield Fire Department and Lane Rural/Fire Rescue. Mr. Bozievich reported that task force members unanimously agreed that ambulance transport was a core service that must be accessible by residents and visitors in central Lane County regardless of ability to pay. Mr. Bozievich reviewed the agenda for the presentation. Fire Chief Randy Groves led the elected officials through a PowerPoint presentation that provided information on existing ambulance service areas, a history of local ambulance service delivery since 1981, an overview of service funding and the funding challenges created by capitated Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements, demographic trend lines for population and age, a breakdown of gross charges, combined medical unit responses broken down by ambulance service areas, call volume broken down by responding agency, and a review of the department's progress on the recommendations made by the last intergovernmental ambulance task force in 2009 as well as on measures initiated by staff. The elected officials asked questions clarifying the details of the presentation. Mr. Drew reviewed the task force's Option 1, "Do nothing." Mr. VanGordon reviewed Option 2, "Privatize." Ms. Ortiz reviewed Option 3, "Form Ambulance Transport District." Ms. Woodrow reviewed a matrix comparing all three options. Ms. Ortiz expressed concern that the existing workload was taxing staff, which was spread too thin. She recommended the elected officials consider what they could do in the long -term to alleviate that problem. Mr. Bozievich concurred. He said the system was on the edge in terms of capacity and there were times during the day when units were temporarily not available. That was leading to burnout among the paramedics, who never had an opportunity to return to the station during the day because of the service demand. He did not believe the option of doing nothing was realistic. Mr. Van Gordon left the meeting. Responding to a question from Mr. Stewart, Chief Groves anticipated that a district, if formed, would likely charge a fee of some size to prevent overutilization. Mr. Stewart questioned whether that provided an adequate disincentive, particularly for those with insurance. He asked if Oakridge or South Lane had been contacted about the potential of joining together to form a larger Lane County district. Chief Groves said it was difficult to get all the necessary people in one place at one time but he saw no obstacle to a larger district. Responding to a question from Ms. Moore, Chief Groves confirmed the task force had discussed combining ambulance and fire services in a single district. Mr. Bozievich observed there were 12 fire districts inside the three ambulance service areas examined by the task force, which added to the complexity of such an approach. MINUTES —Joint Elected Officials May 24, 2012 Page 2 Lane County, City of Eugene, City of Springfield, Lane Rural Fire/Rescue Ms. Ortiz believed that there were equity issues surrounding ambulance service delivery in Lane County, particularly for the more rural areas. She advocated for a regional conversation about how such services were provided. Mr. Ralston commended the work of the task force. He agreed doing nothing was not an option. He supported the option of a taxing district, suggesting it was only option that would provide both equity and cost savings, and recommended that the elected officials begin to move forward immediately. Mr. Leiken pointed out the assessor's office would need stable funding in order to support a new district as well as its current responsibilities. Ms. Ortiz determined from Chief Groves that Emergency Services Consulting International had included the potential of district formation in its feasibility study recommendations. The elected officials expressed general support for further staff exploration of a service district. Mr. Stewart encouraged that the examination be focused on a countywide district. Mayor Piercy thanked the task force and staff for their work. She encouraged staff to develop a timeline for the process. Mayor Piercy adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council at 1:23 p.m. Mayor Lundberg adjourned the meeting of the Springfield City Council at 1:23 p.m. Commissioner Leiken adjourned the'meeting of the Board of County Commissioners at 1:23 p.m. President Baxter adjourned the meeting of the Lane Rural Fire/Rescue Board of Directors at 1:23 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES —Joint Elected Officials May 24, 2012 Page 3 Lane County, City of Eugene, City of Springfield, Lane Rural Fire/Rescue