Board approves AMR ambulance contract after heated public debate over response times

A divided Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 3–2 on Feb. 11 to approve an exclusive ambulance services agreement with American Medical Response West (AMR), concluding a fraught public comment period in which fire chiefs and firefighters warned that the contract would lengthen response times in parts of the county.

The board's decision followed testimony from multiple fire chiefs and union representatives who urged the supervisors to delay or reject the contract. "Seconds count. Seconds count," Montecito Fire District representative Peter Van Dynewyck told the board, emphasizing the difference that minutes can make in cardiac and trauma cases. Brian Fallon, vice president of the Santa Barbara County Fire Chiefs Association, warned that contract language could legally allow urban responses to shift from "7 minutes and 59 seconds to 9 minutes and 59 seconds," adding that AMR has "a documented history of unreliable response times." Louis Farrah Jr., representing the Lompoc Firefighters Association, told the board: "You're giving AMR permission to be late to every single emergency."

County health and EMS staff defended the agreement as a compromise built from a multiyear Request for Proposals and said the contract includes multiple accountability tools. Lars Seifert, deputy director of the county's public health/LEMSA, said the contract "maintains what was an existing contract and then actually elevates [standards] in some instances," and described a clinical scorecard meant to measure on-scene care that could offset certain response-time penalties.

Staff also told the board that the contract narrows how exemptions are granted and creates liquidated damages and contract-breach provisions. Seifert pointed to a provision in which failing to meet a 90% aggregate response-time standard for three consecutive months could be treated as a material breach of contract.

Opponents pressed elected supervisors on how enforcement would work. Some asked whether the liquidated-damages levels were meaningful compared with patient transport fees; one supervisor cited a $1,500 liquidated-damage figure discussed in the staff materials and contrasted it with invoice rates AMR could bill patients for transport.

Supporters of the contract, and some board members, said the county faces legal and fiscal constraints and that the agreement represented the best path forward to preserve county service and avoid costly litigation. The roll-call vote: Supervisors Hartman, Lavinino and Chair Capps voted yes; Supervisors Nelson and Lee voted no. The contract passed 3–2.

What happens next: Staff will begin implementing the contract terms, finalize the clinical scorecard benchmarks with the contractor during the post‑award period and continue oversight through the LEMSA and a newly formed EMCC (Emergency Medical Care Committee) that will meet regularly and report performance to the board.