County counsel: ambulance RFP designation change is informational; board approves consent items 4–0

A member of the public raised a procedural concern about how a change in contracting designation for ambulance services would be handled given RFP rules requiring proposers to sign addenda.

Caller James Pearson said he feared that proposals already submitted could not acknowledge any addendum and asked the county to pause any final action until the RFP process played out. "There's no possible way for bidders to acknowledge that," Pearson said, citing language in the RFP about proposers signing addenda with their submissions.

County counsel responded that the item in question is a designation or name change — specifying that the county, rather than an outside entity, will be the ultimate contracting agency — and not a substantive change to the RFP's terms, conditions or proposer obligations. Counsel said staff had checked with the state and that the change would not affect the fairness or integrity of proposals, but that the state should be officially notified and would be, as part of the addendum/notice process. "This is literally a name change... There's no impact to the fairness or integrity of the process," counsel said.

Following that clarification, the board moved and seconded approval of the agenda and the consent calendar; the clerk recorded roll call votes showing the measures adopted by a 4–0 vote. No further action on the ambulance designation was taken at the meeting; counsel indicated staff would provide required notifications to state authorities as appropriate.

The board then recessed to closed session for labor and litigation matters listed on the agenda.