Ordinance questions v.2
March 7th, 2007 by 
Alica
You probably got the same flyer in the mail that I did, from Med-Star Paramedic Ambulance Inc. After reading it, I have the following questions. Do you know the answers? If so, post them here. In addition, I’m hoping City Council members will answer these questions at tonight’s public forum, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Municipal Golf Course Community Room.
1. Are we to understand that the text under “Council Response” was written by Alderman Brett Karber? If so, did he write it as a council representative, or as a private citizen?
2. It says, “Response times were omitted (in the proposed Brandon ambulance ordinance) on recommendation by the City Attorney on the basis that if we specified a time that an in town service could meet but Rural Metro could not, than (sic) they would have an out not to come as back up.” Karber has said that fast response times are crucial, and I suspect most people would agree. . But if response times are crucial, why not address them in the ordinance, at least the acknowledge and en route times? By not mentioning them in the proposed city ordinance, presumably the city would default to the county ordinance on that point. The county ordinance requires acknowledgement of a call within 60 seconds, and an ambulance en route no more than 10 minues from time of acknowledgement. Are those guidelines sufficient for the City Council?
3. It says, “Brandon’s Ordinance refers to the Minnehaha County Ordinance as well as State Regulations with exception of sections where we exceed those guidelines.” Section 6-7-9 of the proposed city ordinance calls for a medical director who is a general practice physician licensed in South Dakota, but it doesn’t say the doctor has to have hospital privileges. By not mentioning hospital privileges one way or the other, does that mean the proposed city ordinance would default to the county ordinance (Section 1-6, No. 6) on that point and in fact require the doctor to have hospital privileges? If so, why not just write that into the proposed city ordinance? Or, if not, then why not specify that so the City Council’s intent is clear?
Government is run by those who show up. Please show up tonight at the public forum.
Posted in Uncategorized, Ambulance | 
March 7th, 2007 at 7:08 am
I have 4 things to say about that pamphlet that went out.
1. A convoluted mess
2. Ambiguous language
3. Scare tactics
4. Conflict of interest on our councils part.
March 9th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I support that Med-Star tried to clarify things on their behalf, but they really needed to get a better editor and proof reader of this stuff. Convoluted mess: you bet. Conflict of interest: no. I think the ordinance is good in theory. What it aims to do is good. But it was pretty half-assed.
March 9th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I do object to the flyer in that the council should absolutely NOT have put their name on it endorsing a service before an application process was even initiated for any service to apply. As far as conflict of interest, I think the above is one reason to cry conflict of interest. The other is the fact that one of our voting council members has done business with Mr. Masur and his family for about 30 years. He should be recusing himself.
Paul…it might be good in theory you’re right, but this is such a deep issue that has a multitude of medical lingo and standards to which the average layperson will not understand. Saying that response times are the do all and end all is just not responsible. There is much, much more to running a quality service than how fast you can get there. Brandon could really get burned with this ordinance. We need to slow down. The council itself admitted that there are 2 errors in their newly written ordinance and want us to vote yes and let them “tweek” it later AFTER it’s passed. Vote no on the self admitted flawed ordinance and write one that’s safe and smart.
March 10th, 2007 at 3:58 am
Please remember that response times are not mentioned in the proposed city ordinance at all, and the only response times mentioned in the county ordinance are for acknowledging an emergency call and being en route.
Neither ordinance mandates, or even mentions, arrival times.
March 10th, 2007 at 9:48 am
So you’re saying that Mr. Masur and the councils “big sell” of this ordinance isn’t even mandated in the new ordinance???
March 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am
There are so many things missing in the ordinance. What about fees charged by the ambulance? Present situation we are being charged by what the City of Sioux Falls allows for Rural Metro…nothing is mentioned in the ordinance on this. If a 911 call is made and the fire department decides an ambulance is not needed, they are turned around and no reponse. In that case, there is no charge to the resident. Can anyone honestly say a small business can do the same? We also need to look at the quality of care. Just being a paramedic does not make you a super hero that knows everything in an emergency situation. Presently Med-Star is performing as a transport business. That is not 911 emergency calls. The experience that is gained by taking 911 calls is so important, also having a Senior Paramedic on scene. Someone that has spent their time under other Senior Paramedics to further gain knowledge before they are allowed to be in charge of calls on their own.
Vote no and let the council have another year to further study this and not disregard studies that have already been done.
March 15th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Here is one factor to consider, Doen;t Masur always tout that he has a contract witht he VA hospital. I was told that he has to provide two ambulanced to them 24 hours a day seven days a week. So what if he has two ambulanced doing work for the VA and thay call for a third? Do we have mandated that he has to have a specific response time that is significantly less than Rural Metro’s (13 min) somrthing like 5-6 min to match that of the Fire Departments. Anything less woulf leav us in the current situation of waiting for an ambulance from Sioux Falls, even when thier station is here in Brandon.
If the ordinance is to be correct and he wants a licsens he needs to guarantee that ambulance to us and no-one else.
Not just send it on another call for someone else because it can make money. Where does that help us, it will only hurt. Because then we wait again, even longer to get a second ambulance from somewhere else. (Rural Metro, or heaven forbid Luverne)