County-wide ambulance services took another step forward Monday as county commissioners approved a provision to allow negotiations with the City of Crawfordsville for EMS services.
The county EMS sub-committee received two bids for ambulance services, one of which was from the city and another from a private company. Commissioners agreed to pursue a contract with the city which had the lowest bid.
Montgomery County Administrator Tom Klein reported negotiations should be completed and will be presented to the commissioners at their Sept. 26 meeting.
The motion to proceed was approved by a vote of 2-0 with Fulwider abstaining since he is employed by the Crawfordsville Fire Department.
Related to the EMS funding, the Montgomery County Council asked commissioners to reduce their accumulated bridge fund from 7.5% for each $100 to 5.5%. The 2% difference will be applied to a new tax levy for EMS services recently allowed by the state. The new funding tool will direct money formerly going to the maintenance of county bridges to EMS services.
Commissioners said an analysis of the future funding of the county’s 10-year road improvement plan will not be affected.
“I just want to make sure we will have the funds to do what we planned for the next few years,” Fulwider said.
Klein and Montgomery County Highway Director Jake Lough believe the funds will be sufficient to do future bridge work.
Reducing the fund must be done by ordinance and Monday’s discussion was the introduction. The ordinance will be acted upon at the next meeting.
In other business, commissioners:
• Approved an on-call agreement with American Structurepoint Engineering for road signage.
• Approved State Water Infrastructure Funding co-letters for the Tempur Sealy road project and Mace Drainage projects to get reimbursement from the state.
• Introduced an ordinance to vacate a portion of Lee Street in Linnsburg.
• Approved an agreement to scan approximately 10 acres of land the county is preparing to give to Trinity Missions on Whitlock Avenue.
