Sunflower County will be getting a new ambulance soon.
The Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to accept an $84,796 proposal from MedStat, the county’s emergency medical service provider, to also supply a brand new ambulance.
Outgoing District 3 Supervisor Dennis Holmes expressed reservations about the fact that MedStat was the vendor selling the ambulance to the county.
“My only problem with that is they’re the ones selling us the ambulance,” said Holmes.
Holmes said he thought the amount was excessive based on what they last paid for an emergency vehicle.
“I thought that 84 was high,” Holmes said.
According to information presented during the county leaders’ August 19 session by Southern Procurement representative Mala Brooks, MedStat was the lone bidder.
County Attorney Johnny McWilliams stated that he too was concerned about MedStat providing the ambulance they are also going to be using. “They’re our emergency medical service provider,” he said.
He then speculated on whether MedStat was going to buy an ambulance and then sell it to the county.
“I can’t say how they’re going to do it, but I will say, they met the specs on what Sunflower County submitted and they are the only ones,” Brooks said.
The vote was tabled at that session until Brooks could produce the specs, which according to Board President Glenn Donald were developed with MedStat’s input.
“They wrote the specifications. They (MedStat) told them (alluding to Southern Procurement) what we needed to serve Sunflower County,” he said.
Sunflower County currently has $67,612.86 on hand in an Emergency Medical Service Operating grant fund, but it will have to supply the remaining $17,183.14 from the county’s coffers. The supervisors have until the end of September to make the purchase or they will lose all or a portion of the grant money.
McWilliams said since the money in the fund accumulates over a period of time and the county has three years to use it, they may only lose a portion of the revenue.
Despite his concerns over MedStat’s role in the purchase, McWilliams indicated that he felt that the lawmakers were in compliance.
“I think y’all have gone through the legal process,” he said.
As part of the agreement with MedStat, the county purchased two new ambulances, from an outside vendor, in 2014 at a cost of $63,000 each and it is time to purchase another based on their emergency medical service contract.
The county lawmakers voted in May to use Southern Procurement, the company the county chose to coordinate its online reverse-auction bidding process, to carry out the procedure to purchase a new ambulance.
And even though the state’s procurement statute states that each bidding process must include a way for vendors, who decide not to use the electronic measure, to submit paper bids, this reverse auction was reportedly only set up for totally electronic bids.
In other business,
After coming out of a closed executive session, the county lawmakers voted to reappoint Fran Davis to the Sunflower County Library board of directors at the request of Holmes.
Holmes also reportedly made a motion to reappoint Paula Sykes to the Mississippi Delta Community College board of trustees; however that motion died for lack of a second. Holmes could possibly name a replacement at the board’s next session slated for September 9.
Donald called for extra measures to be put in place to corroborate gasoline and fuel disbursement and use to county road workers and suggested that the sheriff’s department implement similar measures.
He stressed that he was not currently accusing anyone of any inappropriateness, but in years past they have had issues with mishandling and he is just trying to be proactive against any possible future misuse. He said if any issues did arise the audit department would find it.
“What I want us to do is get ahead of that,” he said.
Donald indicated that if anyone was misusing the privilege it needed to be addressed now. “We need to stop it before it happens, before we get audited,” he said. Referring to the monthly docket expenses, Donald said, “We paid some heavy money today in fuel.”
