DeKalb County commissioners reluctantly voted Tuesday to again extend the county's ambulance service agreement with American Medical Response for another three months.
The current agreement, which covers emergency ambulance services and billing and collection, was to have ended at the end of this month. The extension means the agreement will be in place through the end of the year.
The vote was 6-1-0, with Commissioner Nancy Jester voting against the extension
"I'm very frustrated. It seems like it's gone on forever," Jester said. "No one's happy about this extension and I'm certainly very frustrated."
Interim DeKalb County Attorney Vivian Ernstes said legal and other matters could not be resolved in time to avoid the extension. While the legal issue was not identified during commission's vote, Commissioner Jester was able to obtain an acknowledgement from Ernstes that it arose "within the last month."
Ernstes could not estimate when the legal issue would be resolved.
"It is a frustrating process," said Commissioner Kathie Gannon, who voted for the extension.
DeKalb County Fire Chief Darnell Fullum asked for the contract extension earlier this month, requesting that the contract be extended to Dec. 31.
"You can't force agreements. That's the reason they're called agreements." said Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson. "If we do not come to an agreement, I'm sure that counsel will let us know and we can decide what our next step would be."
The county asked AMR last year to respond to critical ambulance calls within nine minutes. AMR has been doing business with DeKalb County for 17 years.
