CITY & COUNTY
News from Pflugerville & Hutto
Officials seeking EMS agreement with ESD 2, open negotiations with Allegiance Mobile Health
FINDING A PROVIDER Pflugerville staff have been working to provide a stable EMS provider for the city for several months. The most recent events include: Nov. 9, 2021: council votes to contract with Acadian Ambulance Services for EMS Jan. 1, 2022: Acadian begins providing EMS in Pflugerville Feb. 1, 2022: Acadian sends letter to Pflugerville officials terminating contract with city March 8, 2022: council agrees to terminate contract with Acadian over jurisdictional disagreement June 14, 2022: target date to have plan for new EMS services May 10, 2022: council opens negotiations with ESD 2 for EMS May 24, 2022: council votes to negotiate for contract with EMS provider Allegiance Mobile Health May 31, 2022: joint meeting between council and ESD 2 board of commissioners
PFLUGERVILLE With less than a month before Pflugerville’s contract with Acadian Ambulance Services expires, the city will open negotiations with private provider Allegiance Mobile Health while continuing to work toward a service agreement with Travis County Emergency Services District No. 2. Pflugerville City Council initially approved nego- tiations with ESD 2 at a May 10 meeting. However, City Manager Sereniah Breland said May 24 that negotiations hit a roadblock. Before formally meet- ing with the city, ESD 2 officials spoke with media outlets stating they would maintain their request for an additional $2.8 million in annual funding. “We do not negotiate through the media,” Bre- land said. “Despite our best efforts, ESD 2 has not provided a justifiable reason for that amount.” Council members said they would respect Pflugerville voters’ decision last November not to use ESD 2 if it meant additional taxes. “The good folks of Pflugerville overwhelmingly decided on no new tax,” Council Member Ceasar Ruiz said. ESD 2 Fire Chief Nick Perkins said at the meeting that the city and ESD 2 could meet the city’s goal of no more than $291,000 in annual expenses.
One option, Perkins said, would be for the city to take on billing responsibilities for ambulance services. However, he said the city and ESD 2 had not had a chance to formally discuss options for reducing the impact on Pflugerville’s budget. In the interest of bringing all parties on the same page when it comes to funding options, Mayor Pro Tem Doug Weiss suggested holding a joint meeting between City Council and ESD 2 commissioners. The joint meeting took place May 31 and solidi- fied plans to create an interim franchise agreement with ESD 2 to provide ambulance services through the end of September. The motion from May 10 also directed Breland to begin negotiations with private ambulance service Allegiance Mobile Health. Weiss said Allegiance will be a necessary fallback in the event that the city cannot reach an agree- ment with ESD 2 in time. “I don’t have confidence that we can get all that done in the next six weeks to come together and finalize a deal,” Weiss said. Breland said her goal is to finalize the ESD 2 agreement for approval at council’s next meeting June 14.
in Pflugerville July 13, 2022: Acadian contract officially ends
SOURCE: CITY OF PFLUGERVILLE/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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