The City of Crawfordsville is poised to begin ambulance service to Clark and Walnut townships pending approval from the city council.
Agreements between the city and the townships would allow the Crawfordsville Fire Department to make EMS runs to the Ladoga and New Ross areas starting in 2022.
The agreements received a favorable recommendation Monday from the council’s fiscal affairs committee. The full council is expected to vote next week.
Favorable recommendations were also given to renewing similar pacts with Brown and Franklin townships, serving the areas surrounding Waveland and Darlington.
A multi-year agreement remains in effect with Union Township, covering the Crawfordsville area. The city has a perpetual agreement with Ripley Township to serve Alamo-area residents.
“As you know, [townships] don’t have the resources or the capacity most of the time to provide [ambulance service] themselves, so they’re left trying to find someone to provide this service,” Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton told the committee.
The cost of the agreements vary based on annual run volumes and other factors. The city receives a portion of the patient revenues.
Barton said discussions between the city and county are underway to potentially change the process “so that we’re not negotiating these agreements with the townships.”
“It would just be with the county, who would take care of the unincorporated areas,” Barton said, “so I anticipate changes coming for next year, but for right now we have arrangements with each of these particular townships.”
The council typically doesn’t vote on township ambulance service because it’s handled through contracts approved by the Board of Public Works and Safety.
Since the townships are separate governmental entities, the city decided to switch to interlocal agreements, which must be approved by the council.
In other business, the fiscal affairs committee gave a favorable recommendation to the proposed 2022 budget for Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power.
The proposed operating expense budget totals $36.7 million with $28.7 million being spent on purchased power, the utility’s largest expense.
CEL&P serves 10,115 customers on 286 miles of power lines.
