County approves short‑term mental‑health transport contracts, naming primary and secondary vendors

Rutherford County's purchasing committee approved one‑year contracts, beginning July 1, for short‑term mental‑health transport services, naming T‑Mobile as the primary provider and First Call as the secondary.

Deputy Chief Spence told commissioners the dual‑vendor approach is intended to ensure service availability when the primary provider is unavailable and to reduce the need for deputies to perform transports that pull them from patrol duties. "I would like to go with a primary and a secondary company just to have a backup to keep pulling our men and women off the street," Spence said during the presentation.

Spence said the county began conducting transports in‑house in April and presented operational data: the transcript records 98 transports and 124 hours since April 14; the mileage figure in the meeting transcript is garbled and could not be verified from the record.

The committee voted by roll call in favor of contracting with T‑Mobile and First Call; roll‑call results were recorded as affirmative across members present. The motion and its second were made during the meeting (names for mover and seconder were not specified in the transcript record). Staff said contracts will be for a one‑year term and that the vendors will be used as first‑ and second‑call vendors depending on availability.

Deputy Chief Spence said the county prefers short‑term vendor contracts to free deputies from transports while maintaining service capacity; the procurement will be administered through purchasing and the contracts executed in the coming weeks.