Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Communications topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee presses for apples‑to‑apples comparison of Richmond Ambulance Authority and emergency communications data
Summary
The committee asked the Richmond Ambulance Authority and city emergency communications staff to produce a side‑by‑side comparative analysis of call-answer and dispatch data within two weeks; staff agreed to coordinate.
The Public Safety Standing Committee pressed city staff and the Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA) for a joint, side‑by‑side analysis of call‑answer and dispatch data after members said separate postings of data did not allow a fair comparison.
Chip Decker, chief executive officer of the Richmond Ambulance Authority, presented the RAA’s accreditation and call‑answer statistics and said RAA meets internal and International Academy of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) standards for call taking and determinant assignment. Decker told the committee the RAA’s FY25 total expenses are about $26,000,000, with a city subsidy “currently set at $7,100,000,” and that the communications center portion of the RAA budget is about $1,900,000.
Committee member Sarah Abubakar said the committee had requested a combined presentation “to bring one presentation, a side by side comparison,” and that posting each agency’s data separately did not provide an “apples to apples” picture suitable for analysis. “If DEC is not willing to do that math, and it sounds like RAA is willing to do that math to get us to an apples to apples comparison,” Abubakar said, she would accept RAA’s analysis but asked for the joint product from both agencies.
Mr. Willoughby (staff) said Director Tory May provided the department’s data and that staff believed the request was for the raw data rather than for a joint presentation. The exchange prompted public expressions of frustration from the committee about repeated requests over multiple months.
The committee asked staff to coordinate a side‑by‑side comparison and set an expedited timeline. Council staff identified Steve Taylor to coordinate between RAA and the Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response; committee members asked for the comparative analysis to be produced within two weeks to allow follow‑up questions and avoid repeating the same discussion at the next monthly meeting.
No formal vote on policy or budget changes occurred during the discussion; the request was for a joint data presentation and analysis to inform future committee deliberations.
Direct quotes in the discussion came from Committee member Sarah Abubakar, RAA CEO Chip Decker, and staff identified as Mr. Willoughby. The committee did not record a formal deadline enforcement mechanism beyond the staff coordination request at the meeting.
