The transitional response vehicle to be used by the Georgetown Fire Department will be able to respond to medical and fire emergencies.[/caption]

After months of meetings between city of Georgetown and Williamson County officials, City Council voted to move forward with a city-operated Emergency Medical Services system during its March 24 meeting.

“I think it makes fiscal sense, and I think there is also a case to be made for the most local form of government being in the best position to implement a system that is going to be most accountable to the citizens,” City Councilwoman Rachael Jonrowe said. “We’ll have to figure out how that process will happen as smoothly as possible, but we are basically going to become the medical provider.”

The program is expected to begin Oct. 1 at which time the city would take over all emergency medical care in the city. Until the new program begins, Williamson County Emergency Medical Services will continue to provide services in the city, County Commissioner Valerie Covey said.

“We’re waiting on a plan from [the city],” Covey said, adding she was disappointed in the direction the City Council took. “We have spent an inordinate amount of time putting together a regional plan. We really believe the regional perspective is best in handling this.”

Georgetown will be the first city in the county to operate its own EMS system outside of the county's system other than portions of the city of Austin in Williamson County.

Fire Chief John Sullivan said under the new City Council direction the city would need to purchase two additional transitional response vehicles, or TRVs, which have the ability to respond to fire or medical emergencies and transport patients as well as hire an additional six full-time firefighter/paramedics. The plan will integrate the city’s fire, police and EMS into one system, he said.

“We are looking to improve not only the service in the community but the safety and the capability for medical, fire and rescue,” Sullivan said.

By taking on the medical services, he said the goal was to increase efficiencies, including response times.

In 2014, Sullivan requested funding in the 2014-15 fiscal year budget to purchase two TRVs and add nine full-time firefighter/paramedics to respond to the growing number of medical calls the fire department was responding to, he said.

The department responded to more than 6,300 calls in 2014. Of those 75 percent were medically related. Sullivan said the department responds to about 20 calls per day.

Georgetown Financial Analyst Paul Diaz said start-up costs for the program would be $1.17 million. City Council will also consider a budget amendment to reallocate funds to cover the additional costs in April or May, Georgetown Chief Financial Officer Micki Rundell said.

Jonrowe said the city will have continued conversations with the county to determine what role each agency will have as well as negotiate a mutual aid agreement, which would allow both agencies to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries when necessary.

“We’re all going to have a discussion about the roles of the city versus the roles of the county,” she said. “Historically for a long time this was a rural community, a rural county, and the county provided a lot of the basic services, but as the cities get bigger and we have a more urban setting, people have different expectations for the level of service they should be getting and who they should be getting it from.”

Williamson County Medical Director Jeff Jarvis said the county will evaluate plans for how the county will move forward with its service to “efficiently and creatively care for the citizens in the county.”

The county currently stations three ambulances in the city limits with an additional ambulance on duty during peak demand times.

“We worked very, very hard to address the concerns that the city of Georgetown had, and we came up with quite a few different proposals without fracturing the system,” Jarvis said. “I feel surprised and shocked that they went with none of those options. … That saddens me because I’m very proud of the system.”

Jarvis said once the city files for the necessary licenses more discussions can be had about service territory and how the two separate systems could work together.

The council was presented with two other options, including selling the TRVs to the county and staffing the city's fire engines with the recently hired firefighter/paramedics to offer increased medical care in the city's system. The other option was to have an interlocal agreement between the city and county under which the county would be in charge of credentialing the city's paramedics and dispatching the units.

Councilman Steve Fought, who served on a city subcommittee to determine how to move forward with the firefighter/paramedic program, said after meeting with the county he favored the city-operated system.

“In the end we’re going to do what’s best for the community,” he said. “It’s a single agency that we can hold accountable.”

Sullivan said the department will begin filing the necessary paperwork to establish the program and once the budget amendment is approved, the city can move forward with hiring the additional personnel and purchasing equipment.