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Council hears that current ambulance contractor cannot handle long-distance psychiatric transports; city to seek supplemental providers
Summary
Contracted ambulance service told the city it cannot perform some long-distance psychiatric transports; council discussed need to find an additional transport provider and to negotiate a supplemental contract to cover those trips.
Council staff reported that the city's ambulance contractor informed the city it cannot reliably perform some long-distance psychiatric patient transports and recommended the city consider a separate supplemental contract for that service.
Why it matters: psychiatric patients held for evaluation or placement sometimes require long-distance transfers; the city needs a contract to ensure those patients can be transported and to protect municipal liability.
Staff said it had requested census and operational numbers from the contractor; the contractor sent an email and a sheriff's letter describing limitations on long transports. Staff recommended the city reach out to providers who perform those transfers; the transcript names Acadian as a common regional provider that performs long-distance transports for other jurisdictions.
Council members asked staff to solicit proposals or authorization to execute a minimal supplemental contract so the city has a provider in place for psychiatric transfers when the primary contractor is unable to perform them.
Ending: Staff said they would begin outreach to potential supplemental providers and circulate the contractor correspondence and the draft supplemental contract for council consideration.
