When the Board of Supervisors unanimously (BOS) chose to award a 10-year ambulance services contract to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, government watchers weren’t surprised because the county had previously procured 35 new ambulances in anticipation that the Fire Department would prevail in the competition.

American Medical Response (AMR) was originally declared the winner of the contract by the Santa Barbara County Emergency Medical Services Agency, a division of the county Public Health Department.

AMR appealed the decision by the BOS to cancel the contract award and tailor a new proposal to favor count fire to the BOS and lost. There was no surprise at this decision either.

AMR then filed a lawsuit against the BOS saying, “it did not have the authority to do so.”
 
A recent Noozhawk headline summed it up this way: “County says ambulance system would be ‘thrown into chaos’ if court grants injunction in AMR suit,” (Nov. 21).

Apparently, the county is irked because AMR exercised its right to have its case heard in an unbiased court.
 
The California attorney general appears to agree with AMR, and in a brief to the court says:

“It is worth noting that the County’s ordinance (allowing the BOS to make the choice) appears to be unique in the EMS (emergency medical service) field. EMS Agency has not encountered similar local regulations that empower a county board of supervisors to exercise authority to evaluate specific subjective criteria and to independently select the EMS providers permitted to operate within the county.
 
“Normally, local permitting regulations are purely ministerial, and they typically set forth objective qualifications that, if met, entitle an operator to provide emergency services. In contrast, the instant permitting ordinance appears to allow the County to exercise unilateral authority under subjective criteria to make substantive local EMS policy, with no input or evaluation by the medical experts at the LEMSA.”
 
So, it appears the BOS may have made a monumental mistake. These sorts of lawsuits often take years to resolve, and that means the BOS, now and throughout the process, will be allocating several hundred thousand, and perhaps well over $1 million of taxpayer money hiring a law firm to defend its decision in court.
 
Even after spending all that taxpayer money for a defense, the state AG thinks “AMR is likely to prevail on the merits because state law prohibits counties from creating back doors around their LEMSAs and selecting preferred providers through discretionary permits.”
 
What will happen in the meantime; could it mean there an interruption of ambulance service?

The current AMR contract expires in February, and if the contract with county fire approved by the BOS is halted by an injunction from the court, who will provide the service?
 
Should taxpayers have to put up with this nonsense? Well, there is an election coming up soon, and one or more of the supervisors who by-passed state law and approved awarding the ambulance service to themselves (the County Fire Department) are trying to be reelected.
 
None of the supervisors running for reelection should be reseated. New voices in the form of one of their competitors should be chosen. This isn’t a matter whether they are supported by one of the major political parties or the other, or backed by special interest groups; this was an error in judgement that will cost every citizen who pays taxes a substantial sum to resolve.
 
If asked during the campaign, the incumbents will of course try to shift blame to the staff; but the BOS made the decision and I am guessing they were told at some point, by either AMR representatives or the county Emergency Medical Services Agency that the Health and Safety Code states unequivocally that the Public Health Department EMSA is empowered to award this contract based on an independent evaluation of the responses to their Request for Proposals.
 
A change of leadership is needed, and the coming election is the time to do it. Maybe new minds and voices will improve the decision-making process in this county.

References:
https://www.countyofsb.org/2024/EMS-Agency
 
https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/ca-santabarbaracounty/7a2df8cc-03b7-4a1a-bb85-48c3fb47ba7b/santa-barbara-county-ems-plans-2017-2018-2019-2020-2021-2022.pdf?sq=191b06ba-6287-f30a-2d87-d7dd4e46ac03&scope=all
 
https://www.noozhawk.com/county-says-ambulance-system-would-be-thrown-into-chaos-if-court-grants-injunction-in-amr-lawsuit/
 
https://www.noozhawk.com/state-weighs-in-on-santa-barbara-county-amr-ambulance-services-lawsuit/
 
 

Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry. He has been following Lompoc politics since 1992, and after serving for 23 years appointed to various community commissions, retired from public service. The opinions expressed are his own.