News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Clay County will bear the total cost of emergency services moving forward.
Mayor Dale Reagan said the county previously had an agreement to provide the ambulance units and the city of Celina would cover the service. He said after the county acquired the ambulance service last month, that agreement is no longer in effect.
“We’ll have a full ambulance budget where before we had a contract budget in there for that,” Reagan said. “Now we’ll have a full EMS budget. So yeah it’s going to have its challenges, but Lord be our helper, we’re going to make this work.”
Reagan said Celina residents are also county residents, and will continue to receive emergency coverage. He said the county commission will have a budget meeting Monday night after the regular commission meeting to discuss and set up the EMS budget.
Reagan said the biggest learning curve of acquiring the full service has been learning a new billing system. He said he is grateful to the county employees, emergency personnel, and the state for all of their time and effort to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“It’s a costly service there’s no doubt about that but it is an essential service the county has to provide to the citizens,” Reagan said. “That being said, we are absolutely going to do our very best to make sure we give them the best service we possibly can.”
Reagan said the contract has been ongoing with the city for as long as he has been in office, which is going on 17 years. He said the ambulances have been housed at the EOC building since it was constructed in 2010.
