DeKalb committee accepts $1.33 million from AMR, approves several contract changes and PTSD coverage; tire-dumping plan deferred

DeKalb County commissioners' IRPS committee on the meeting record accepted $1,325,250 in penalty payments from Metro Ambulance Services Inc., doing business as American Medical Response (AMR), and approved a set of contract adjustments and program actions affecting county departments.

The actions, taken by voice vote and unanimous consent on items brought before the committee, included a short extension of the county's pre-employment background-check contract, an increase to a beverages contract used by multiple departments, a no-cost affiliation agreement for paramedic clinical training, formal enrollment in a first-responder PTSD benefit program created by state law, approval of a Stonecrest-DeKalb memorandum of understanding tied to a SPLOST fire-station project, and a decision to defer a proposed county response to widespread illegal tire dumping for further study.

Why it matters: the AMR penalty payment and subsequent decision to place the funds into an existing line for service enhancement and subsidy affect how emergency medical services are funded and operated; the PTSD program enrollment implements a new state requirement that carries a county cost estimate; and the SPLOST-related station builds could change response coverage and insurance ratings for residents.

The meeting began with a request from county human resources staff to extend an existing contract for pre-employment background investigations through Aug. 31 while the county completes a new solicitation. "We're not asking for any additional funding. Just being proactive. We're in the tail end stages of our solicitation," Jadia Haynes, HR deputy director, told commissioners. The committee approved that change-of-term request.

A Fire Rescue item accepted $1,325,250 in penalty assessments from AMR for performance during 2023–2024. Fire Rescue staff said the penalties are assessed under multiple categories, chiefly quarterly response-time compliance across defined priority levels and for response times that exceed defined thresholds (for example, greater than 29 minutes, 59 seconds). The department asked that the checks be placed into the same fund used previously (from…