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Resident presents records review showing EMS response times rising; urges phased municipal approach
Summary
A local presenter reviewed public records on emergency medical services response times and recommended a phased approach—keeping a third‑party provider while placing one city‑owned ambulance on duty during peak demand. He cautioned the data are systemwide and not solely Gunner's response times.
A resident who reviewed hundreds of pages of public records told the Gunner City Council on July 16 that publicly available Allegiance/Grayson County response-time reports show a worsening trend and limits on what the data can prove about Gunner specifically. "In 2024, you're approximately 9 minutes and 58 seconds in response time," the presenter said, adding that the same metric rose to about 12 minutes and 44 seconds in 2025 and through June 2026.
The presenter emphasized the data came from county dispatch records covering Allegiance units operating regionally and not solely inside Gunner—"those reports reflect Allegiance EMS units operating within the Grayson County dispatch system, not solely within the city of Gunner," he said—so they should be treated as systemwide metrics rather than definitive city performance measures. He also summarized earlier local planning that contemplated using about $500,000 from the sale of the city’s water and sewer system to help seed a municipal EMS effort and noted the city has already purchased two ambulances as part of that long‑term vision.
Rather than recommending an immediate transition to a fully municipal service, the presenter urged a phased approach: retain a qualified third‑party provider through a competitive procurement while placing one city‑owned ambulance into service during historically high call‑volume periods to build operational experience, test staffing models, and collect local performance data. He warned a full municipal EMS system requires permanent career staff, medical direction, quality assurance, ongoing training, equipment maintenance and sustainable funding—factors the city should evaluate further before assuming full responsibility.
