Greene County director reports new ambulances, equipment needs and a FEMA rental opportunity; bid to sell aging vehicle approved

Greene County officials heard an update from the county director on the emergency medical services fleet, equipment purchases and a potential revenue opportunity tied to FEMA deployments.

The director said, “We have received all 3 of the trucks,” and that the vehicles are ready to enter service once the county receives certification sticker numbers. He said a stocked spare “Grama truck” is being kept for surge responses and prescheduled transfers so the county does not need to take frontline 9-1-1 units out of service.

The update matters because county staff said EMS volume and revenue have both increased, putting pressure on transfer capacity and vehicle maintenance. “351 calls in January, 299 transports,” the director reported, and he provided a January revenue figure of $124,074.91. He told the officials that annual revenue last year exceeded $1,900,000 and that call volume rose more than 10 percent over the prior year, with Medicaid reimbursement contributing to improved cash flow.

Officials discussed equipment replacement timelines and costs. The director said the cot vendor Stryker plans to discontinue the current cot model and that new stretcher and monitor models are coming to market. He described typical replacement windows at about three-and-a-half to four years for some devices. Sticker prices mentioned for monitoring equipment were about $60,000, and a new power-load system was cited in the mid-$30,000 range; the director contrasted that with a prior cot purchase that cost about $17,000.

The director said the county is considering using SunRAT funds to upgrade cots and other hard goods but had not requested council permission at the time of the update. He recommended buying a single newer monitor to place in a supervisor vehicle to reduce the need to train all staff at once, rather than replacing every unit immediately.

Operational changes under consideration include staggering crew start times to reduce overtime when transfers arrive during shift changes. The director said the county would pilot staggered start times — for example shifts starting at 6, 7 and 8 a.m. — beginning with crews located nearest to the hospital.

The director also described an opportunity to rent spare ambulances to staffing vendors that deploy vehicles under FEMA missions. Under the arrangement he outlined, the county would supply trucks while contractors provide staffing; the director said FEMA-related deployments typically pay about $100 per hour per truck (roughly $2,400 per day). He noted there are insurance and equipment-stock requirements for such deployments and said he would forward detailed contracting information to Marvin for review.

On a separate item, a motion was made and seconded to accept a bid for the disposition of an aging county vehicle. The motion passed on a voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. Officials asked staff to hold the truck pending final paperwork.

The director provided additional fleet details, including odometer readings and replacement plans: one frontline ambulance had about 206,000 miles and its replacement was already on hand; another truck had about 223,000 miles; a rescue vehicle had roughly 3,000 miles and was not an immediate replacement candidate. The director said he will send the FEMA contract details to county staff and pursue council approval to use SunRAT funds for cot upgrades if needed.

The meeting closed with no further substantive items on EMS fleet management reported.