Commission approves Dr. Joseph O'Donnell as Fire/EMS medical director; manager gives calendar and RFP updates

The Arkansas City Commission authorized the city to enter a professional services agreement with Dr. C. Joseph O'Donnell to serve as medical director for the Fire/EMS department, providing medical oversight, training, protocol development and quality assurance functions required by the Kansas Board of EMS.

Fire/EMS staff said the department's previous medical director (Glassford) is no longer serving and Dr. Damon had been providing limited coverage. After an extended search, staff said Dr. O'Donnell (based in Wichita) agreed to serve, will work with the hospital and South Central and plans to visit periodically (reported as roughly every two weeks) to review reports and quality-assurance matters. Staff emphasized that many qualified physicians serving as medical directors travel from other parts of the state and that O'Donnell's arrangement is consistent with usual practice.

The commission voted to authorize the city manager to enter the agreement; the motion passed unanimously.

City manager updates: The manager said an onboarding session for two incoming commissioners is scheduled for Dec. 5 at 8 a.m.; staff will tour facilities and meet department heads. The manager also reported recent receipt of fire station and pickleball court RFPs with recommendations expected at the next meeting and announced that Jill Hunter will receive the Chamber of Commerce—s Spirit of Humanity award.

What happens next: The city manager will finalize and execute the medical-director contract and staff will return with vendor recommendations for the RFPs at a future meeting. The commission recessed into a brief executive session later in the meeting to discuss the city manager—s annual review; no action was taken immediately following that session.