Commentary by Samuel Strait – July 27, 2022 While there has been much to say already about the recent request by Del Norte Ambulance to become Del Norte County's sole and exclusive provider for services, obscured in the verbiage is the basic importance as to what is best in the current circumstances for Del Norte County residents. In an effort to clarify that particular question following my attendance of the meeting of the County's Board of Supervisors, I read the Ad Hoc Committee's report, spoke at length with Del Norte Ambulance's, Ron Sandler, continued with a thorough questioning of Supervisor Valerie Starkey, member of said Ad Hoc Committee, and acquainted myself with several articles pertaining to both Del Norte Ambulance and its history of service to the County's residents. Before we get to the merits or lack there of where granting Del Norte Ambulance an Exclusive Operating Agreement (EOA) to provide service to the County, it is important to understand the available options for the BOS to consider. They are three in number, none of which would exclude Del Norte Ambulance from being our ambulance provider. The first, is to continue the current arrangement with Del Norte Ambulance until their contract with the County to provide universal service to all needing its services until the contract expires in 2027. The second is to allow Del Norte Ambulance an exclusive operating agreement with the associated enhancement of oversight that accompanies such arrangements. The final option is to offer competitive bidding to other ambulance service providers including Del Norte Ambulance in a bidding process at county expense. It was the Ad Hoc Committee members preferred choice that an EOA was the most reasonable option. The reason given for the choice was cost, increased oversight, accountability, stability, and success in other local jurisdictions. The negatives were listed as it being a monopoly, quality of past service, and the risk factor to the County of it being an exclusive service should Del Norte Ambulance not live up to expectations. What is notable about the negatives is that Del Norte Ambulance, due to the limited nature of service requests, is already a monopoly without the constraints that an EOA would provide. As to quality of service, with the exception of Fire Service Personnel, no other reporting service, members of the public, or first responders had issues with Del Norte Ambulance's level of service. And finally, just as with any other private entity, an EOA, provides no substantial risk to the County as it can be terminated at any time should Del Norte Ambulance not live up to its commitments. A further examination of the "complaints" submitted by fire personnel appear to reveal an ongoing sense that fire personnel and ambulance personnel are at odds in some emergency situations where ambulance personnel should be the primary medical service provider. Many of the "complaints" appear superficial and without serious merit. Those that have come to the attention of the North Coast EMS director, Larry Karsteadt, have been satisfactorily remedied and Del Norte Ambulance was recognized as being in compliance and cooperative. While it is relatively easy to infer motive for the level of complaint from fire service responders due to recent activities of its retired Chief, Bill Gillespie, in taking steps to move toward permanent hired personnel and the comments offered via zoom at the BOS that ambulance service should become a "public service". It should be noted that this is also an expensive alternative and would be an ongoing expense to this community. We are not a huge population with a great demand for ambulance service necessitating a change to public service. Clearly the notion that Del Norte Ambulance service is less than a quality service must be taken into account, whether allegations by fire service personnel of inadequate service is the case, and whether "statistics" can possibly shed light on this charge are unlikely. It is none the less curious as to why County and City fire services would be the only shade on the proposal. Testimony of the majority of those to the Ad Hoc Committee and the recommendations by North Coast Medical Services to proceed with what is already a sensible option of granting EOA to Del Norte Ambulance comes with very few uncorrectable risks to the County. I fail to see the need for hesitation on granting Del Norte Ambulance's desire to be exclusive and protect as any "good" business venture would its value and its value to its consumers. As with the ambulance service, it may behoove the County to take a close look at what is being offered by local Fire Protections Services as a necessity for Del Norte County. What has been recommended by retired Fire Chief, Bill Gillespie, and current Fire Chief, Kevin Carey as "corrective measures" for Del Norte Ambulance personnel, perhaps should be also something Fire Service personnel need to be acquainted with as well. Having "pissing contests" at the scene of an emergency does not reflect well on those that are involved. There are unavoidable mistakes enough at all levels of emergency services, certainly an untucked shirt or disheveled uniform does not merit the level of a "complaint". Similarly, feelings that lack of trained or "proper" personnel or "failure to engage" make no difference to the person in distress when all that is required is the best service under the circumstances. In any event, none of this past history of dubious complaining should be involved in determining what is best in the present circumstances for the public. In the eyes that oversee its operation, Del Norte Ambulance has had few complaints from those it services for many decades. Hence, Board of Supervisors, where do you go from here?