The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Franklin council considering EMS changes

Parade to mark Memorial Day in Lebanon
Updated 9 min. ago
Lebanon updates law banning vicious dogs
New 11 min. ago
Emergency response team offers training
New 13 min. ago
4-H Club helps erect flag pole at Bentley Woods
New 15 min. ago
City honors life of Lebanon marshal
New 23 min. ago
> More headlines

By Skip Weaver, Staff Writer 9:42 PM Monday, February 6, 2012

FRANKLIN — The city is examining its options regarding emergency medical services.

After years of operating EMS runs through the Joint Emergency Medical Services (JEMS), city council is facing a decision on whether it wants to continue working with that service, privatizing its EMS service or offering its own EMS.

City Manager Sonny Lewis was charged late last year with researching the subject and giving his findings this month.

“We went into this looking for the best thing for the city,” Lewis said during council’s work session Monday. “The numbers are the numbers. They are not swayed at all.”

The first option is to remain with JEMS, which has served the Franklin community since 1982. But JEMS has fallen on financially hard times and a 3.04-mill levy generating about $1.5 million would be needed on top of the two levies that currently generate nearly $500,000 annually.

The second option is to privatize EMS services, meaning the city would contract with an outside provider. The city would still need to ask for a levy generating approximately $1.2 million annually minus billing revenue, Lewis said.

The third option is for the city to offer its own full service fire and rescue agency. The fire department commonly has on-duty certified emergency medical technicians responding to scenes, but they are currently prohibited from providing any EMS care.

This option would also require a levy, but it is the least expensive, according to Lewis.

The second and third options also would mean pulling out of JEMS, thus eliminating the current 1.8-mill JEMS levy, Lewis said.

“The sad truth is we’ve hit a time where (the JEMS) model just doesn’t work for us,” Councilman Todd Hall said. “We’ve hashed this around enough. It is time to do what is best for our residents and their money.”

Said Councilman Jason Faulkner, the city’s representative on the JEMS board, “This was a model that worked in 1983 and maybe 1993, but you’ve heard me say this for the last six years ... it doesn’t work now.”

A majority of council seems to favor the city offering its own EMS service.

“For myself, I always imagined the best service would be a combined fire and EMS,” Councilman Michael Aldridge said. “I was always scared at what the cost would be and we always pushed it back because of those unknown costs. But I have confidence in our guys. It seems to be a no-brainer to me. The time to do it is now.”

Share this article