Quick thought on costs....
Using existing resources that must be on-duty anyway for fire responses to respond to an ADDITIONAL call is generally a bargain for the taxpayer. The marginal cost of sending that unit to a medical call vs. sitting around waiting for a fire call is the cost of a pint or 2 of fuel, maybe some medical supplies/equipment depreciation, and maybe some costs for premium pay for EMS certs.
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Colorado Springs Mayor exploring three paths for ambulance services after CSFD proposal was voted down
By Rebecca Gvozden
Jun. 24, 2024
https://www.kktv.com/2024/06/25/colorado-springs-mayor-exploring-three-paths-ambulance-services-after-csfd-proposal-was-voted-down/
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Colorado Springs, Mayor Mobolade, held another monthly briefing on Monday, to discuss public safety and highlight the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
One key topic brought to the table was the next steps in ambulance services. This comes after a proposal with Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) to take over EMS services was voted down by city council earlier this month. Mobolade says he’s looking at three paths moving forward.
“One is to renegotiate and extend the AMR contract,” Mayor Mobolade said to the media. “Two is to open up a full request for proposal process, we call it also RFP. And then three, is to continue to work with my fellow council members to explore different alternative solutions, and those conversations are happening already.”
Mobolade says he’s in many conversations with the council members that voted ‘no’.
“A couple of them have said we still want to explore what it looks like for the fire department to take this on,” Mobolade said. “So that work is still ahead of us.”
Mobolade says he and city council members still have work to do with exploring their options but still believes this is the right time for the city to adapt to ever-changing public safety demands. What’s most important to him is delivering that promise of efficient public safety to the community.
“It’s trying to be smart, trying to create efficiencies, understand that every time that 911 call comes, and we have to deploy our firefighters we’re still the first on the scene and then an AMR any other private ambulances also shows up,” Mobolade said. “So, we’re paying twice for one service. That’s not, that’s not good stewardship.”
Other topics discussed pertained to violent crimes, motorcycle crashes, and staffing of the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD).
Mayor Mobolade says violent crimes have increased, and around this time last year there were about fourteen homicide investigations, however today, we’re at about twenty-one. He plans to have a meeting with the district attorney and his team, to try and understand the data around these increases.
With an increase in motorcycle crashes in the Springs, the mayor said he was told... with the city growing, they’re going to see a natural increase in this department of crashes.
Mayor Mobolade says CSPD is short about twenty people. They’re expecting to be fully staffed by early next year or in the middle.
Overall, he says public safety is at the forefront of his responsibilities.
“Public safety is at the top of my mind all the time, and in large part because it’s, no one else has that responsibility, but your government,” Mobolade said.
