BrandonInfo.com

After a month of having the new ambulance law in effect, Brandon has its first applicant to provide the city with 911 medical service: MED-Star Paramedic Ambulance, Inc.

The newly appointed three-member quality assurance committee has yet to set a date to review the application. Thing is, even though this is a mayor-appointed committee, the review process most likely won’t be public, according to City Administrator Dennis Olson. This is, in large part, due to the fact the committee will oversee the background checks of MED-Star’s employees.

The three members include Dr. Nicolas Van Es, a physician with Sanford Health in Brandon, and residents Mary Brooks and Bonnie Petersen, a certified nurse practitioner at Sanford Health Clinic in Brandon.

While I understand the need to keep things like social security numbers and home addresses private, I’m not sure I agree that the entire review process remain closed to the public. When the final recommendation is presented to the city council, I want to know what the decision was based on, considering the numerous requirements on the ambulance service application form. (Check out the requirements here. Click on “404,” then scroll down to “6-7-23.”)

What do you think? Would you have any interest sitting in on the review process or is hearing the recommendation (perhaps with or without explanation - we’ll hope for the best and assume *with*) presented at city council enough?

The City Council meeting area includes pictures of the six mayors Brandon has had since the city incorporated in 1973. Photo by Alica P. Thiele

The Brandon City Council will hold its special meeting Tuesday instead of Monday because of a conflict with the senior athletic banquet.

The Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 1, at City Hall, to talk about possible changes to the city’s ambulance license application. The Council also may talk about cha nges to the recently-passed Ordinance #381.

City Hall is on Main Street.

On April 23 at a special meeting, the Brandon City Council made some changes to the recently-passed Ordinance #381, the ambulance ordinance. That would be considered the first reading.

The Council scheduled a second special meeting for April 30, to discuss changes to the ambulance license application. At that meeting, the Council may hold the second reading of the ordinance changes.

If they do, and pass it, the ordinance would have to be published in the Brandon Valley Challenger. The earliest that could happen would be May 9. Then, if no one turns in a petition referring the matter to a public vote, the ordinance changes would go into effect 20 days after publication, or May 28.

If the Council doesn’t hold the second reading of the ordinance at the April 30 special meeting, they would probably do so at their next regular meeting, which is May 7. Then publication would be May 16 and the law would go into effect June 4 if no one contests it.

The founding fathers knew what they were doing when they devised a system of government with many checks and balances. The first amendment guarantees citizens the right to petition the government. That’s to help keep bad laws from being passed. The first amendment also guarantees citizens the right to voice their opinion of government proceedings. That promotes discussion. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s pretty good.

The Brandon City Council have made some changes to the recently-approved ambulance ordinance that they hope address some of the concerns the public had.
They addressed response time, availability of service, medical oversight and insurance.
It remains to be seen whether those answers all the questions the public has.

The Brandon City Council will hold a special meeting Monday, April 23, at 6 p.m. at City hall to discuss changes in the application for ambulance service and changes to Ordinance #381.

The council may or may not take action at this meeting. If not, the next regular meeting of the Council is Monday, May 7.

I wonder what changes the Council is considering for the application. They just passed it in January.

Please contact your Council representative before these meetings to voice your opinion. It would be good to show up at the meetings too, but contacting them ahead of time is best, because it will give your Council representative time to think about your comments. Please, also post your thoughts here. I suspect Council members are reading the blog even if they do not post. (Or maybe they do. We don’t know who the screen names belong to.)

Contact information for the mayor and City Council members can be found on www.brandoninfo.com. Look under the “Welcome To Brandon” section and follow the links to city government.

On Monday when the City Council canvasses votes for the election, the ambulance Ordinance #381 will become law and the Council can start taking applications. So I looked at the application approved Jan. 2, 2007, and compared it with the application the city used when Ordinance #286 (the old ambulance ordinance) was in effect. They are different. In general, the new application is more relaxed than the old application and doesn’t require as much documentation. Also, the new application doesn’t require written plans for the type of service to be offered or for staffing.

Here is a detailed list of differences:

1. The old application requires documentation of 15 points. The new one has only 10 points. The five points that are omitted from the new application are A) a detailed statement of the type of service to be offered; B) a written plan for staffing levels; C) verification of direct medical control with documentation of an agreement with at least one Sioux Falls hospital for such control; D) a plan to comply with sanitary and safety standards; and E) proof of safety inspections by a certified mechanic.

2. Both require a listing of vehicles to be used. The old application requires documentation; the new one does not.

3. Both require a listing of employees along with their certifications, training and experience. The old application requires certification before the application is approved and again afterward, before the employee has contact with patients. The new ordinance does not require the double certification.

4. The old application requires documentation of equipment and medications by “the city’s quality assurance entity.” The new one requires documentation of equipment by REMSA standards and medication by state standards. Both applications require proof of inspection.

5. The old application requires verification of availability of a medical director, including a copy of the contract that includes certification that the medical directo has staff privileges with a Sioux Falls hospital. It also requires a copy of the doctor’s license and D.E.A. certificate. The new application requires only th name, address and phone number of the medical director’s state license.

6. Both applications require proof of insurance.

7. The old application requires a fee to “be established by resolution of the city” and requires that payment be included with the application. The new application requires a $25 but doesn’t say that payment must be included with the application.

Now that Ordinance #381, the ambulance ordinance, has passed, what is the next step? Presumably the city will start taking applications for licenses. It seems likely that Med-Star will apply. Rural Metro, which has been serving the city, didn’t say before the election if they planned to apply or not (at least not publicly).

Perhaps the Garretson ambulance service will apply for a license in Brandon. A representative from Garretson came to one of the public forums.

Or maybe the Brandon Volunteer Fire Department, or even the city itself, will decide to get into the ambulance business.

What other options can you think of? Which do you think are most likely? Any predictions as to what will happen next?

We’ve been putting our ambulance thoughts under the “All Things Ambulance” thread. But now that the ordinance has passed and we’re looking ahead to the licensing process, let’s start using this thread for our discussions.

Thanks.

Let’s start using just one thread to talk about the ambulance issue. All previous posts will stay as they are, but please put any new posts under this “all things ambulance” heading. That way it will be easier for people to follow the dialogue.

Feel free to post any insights you have, as well as questions, complaints, praise or general comments.

Thanks.

The proposed city ambulance ordinance, #381, has been corrected and appears on this blog in the ambulance category. It now reads the way the City Council members originally voted it to read. The parts that were published incorrectly before were sections 6-7-12 and 6-7-15.

At last night’s forum, I heard statements that sound like there is some common ground. It seems like folks want good emergency care. Folks agree that the Brandon Police Department and the Brandon Volunteer Fire Department do a real good job of arriving at medical emergencies fast and taking care of patients as much as they are capable. And folks even agree that there are problems with the ordinance.

What I’d like to hear now are suggestions for alternative plans of action from the people who oppose the ordinance. If the ordinance fails at the April 10 election, what do you think should happen next? Should the City Council take another stab at rewriting Ordinance #381? Should they look real hard at reinstating Brandon’s old city ambulance ordinance? Should they forget about a city ambulance ordinance altogether?

Brandon could have 15,000 to 20,000 residents within 20 years. What kind of emergency services system do you think would be necessary in a town that size? What steps do you think Brandon should take to plan for that?

One suggestion that came from both sides of the table at last night’s forum was for the city to put more emphasis on increased training for the police and firefighters in town. The “vote no” side, during their opening statements, said, “If we’re going to spend money, maybe we should put it into training the people we already have.” Councilman Steve Rubin said the city and the fire department need to “get together as a team and work together …. I see that we need to do a better job there.”

Common ground.

The City Council is going to publish a corrected version of the proposed city ambulance ordinance. According to city administrator Dennis Olson, the Secretary of State’s office said that is the proper procedure if an ordinance gets printed incorrectly.

The corrected portions are part of a story that can be viewed on this Web site, www.brandoninfo.com.

So tonight at the public forum, which starts at 7 p.m. at Brandon Valley Middle School, let’s avoid rehashing the corrected points, ok? We shouldn’t waste the forum’s time with person after person getting up and saying to the council, “You said such-and-such,” and the council answering, “Yeah, but we fixed that.”

Here are a couple questions I have:

1. If Brandon passes this ordinance, who plans to apply for a license, if any? The two services that keep getting mentioned are Rural Metro and MedStar. Have either of them said for sure if they will or will not apply? Has anyone else?

2. If MedStar comes to my house but I say no thanks, my family will drive me to the hospital, will MedStar still charge me just for showing up?

Here are a couple things I learned after checking the City Council’s minutes, which were published at the time.

When the Council repealed the old city ambulance ordinance on Sept. 20, 2004, councilman Dan Mostek was the only council member to vote against repealing. (He said that at last week’s public forum.) Mostek was also the only person to vote against adopting Ordinance #381, the one we’ll vote on April 10.

On Nov. 1, 2004, Jay Masur of MedStar appeared before the City Council to ask for a license to operate an ambulance for Brandon. Here is an excerpt from the minutes of that meeting:

“Jay Masur appeared before the Council requesting that the Council write a new ambulance licensing ordinance so he can operate within the limits of the City of Brandon. After a lengthy and heated discussion, Alderman Polzin moved Alderman Rubin seconded to direct the City Administrator and City Attorney to work with Jay to draft a new ordinance and present it to the Council by the December 6, 2004 regular meeting. Motion carried.”

If you didn’t have a chance to make it to Wednesday’s public forum on the proposed city ambulance ordinance, you have another chance next Wednesday. The Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and the Brandon Valley Challenger will sponsor the March 14 forum at the Brandon Valley Middle School media center, beginning at 7 p.m.

The forum will be moderated with a panel of four people, two for each side of the issue.

Council members have said the goal is to get more highly-trained emergency personnel than there are now on the scene faster than they do now.

If you don’t think this is necessary, vote no on April 10. But even if you think this is necessary, that doesn’t mean you should automatically vote yes. You still need to take another step.

You need to read the proposed city ordinance and the county ordinance it would replace. You can find the propsed city ordinance, and directions on how to find the county ordinance, in other posts in the “Ambulance” category on this blog.

Yes, I know the ordinances are long and might be boring to read. But someone’s life might depend on how well you educate yourself before you vote on this ordinance.

Once you have read and compared both ordinances, you still may have questions. I did. Ask those questions next Wednesday at the forum. Or ask them here on this blog. Or call your city council representative.

Then, on April 10, you will be able to make an educated vote on whether you think this ordinance will accomplish the goal of better and faster service, or if you think it won’t.