COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — On Tuesday, the Colorado Springs City Council voted 5-4 against establishing a city-run ambulance service.
Following the vote, Colorado Springs Fire Department Chief Randy Royal expressed his "disappointment" in the City Council's decision. Taking to social media saying the following:
I am incredibly disappointed to say the Colorado Springs City Council voted against the proposal for an Ambulance Transport Enterprise. This proposal would have been a historic step for our community and would have been the best possible outcome for our community.
I would like you all to know as your Fire Chief I am committed to bringing you the best care possible, the care you deserve. We will continue to fight to bring the responsibility of ambulance transport in-house. As City Code Section 8.2.303 clearly states the CSFD is responsible for assuming medical control at the scene of an accident or medical emergency and is the ‘authority to administer all procedures necessary to assure the continued health of any person or persons injured in an accident or the subject of a medical emergency.’
I am grateful for the support of the council members who believed in us to bring this forward and support us the entire time. I’m grateful to Mayor Yemi, Chief of Staff Jamie Fabos, Deputy Chief of Staff Ryan Trujillo, and my Deputy Chief of EMS Jayme McConnellogue and my many other team members who have worked tirelessly on this project. They have put in countless hours to ensure this proposal was the best for the city. We will not give up on this.
As I always say, Mission First, People Always.
The Colorado Springs Fire Department says AMR has not been meeting their expectations for response times. They say over the past three years, AMR responded late to more than thirty-three thousand calls. Because of that, they had to pay the city more than five million dollars in damages.
According to the fire department, Colorado Springs is one of only four of the top 40 us cities by population that use a private ambulance service. They want to change that with their own "in-house" service.
A look into why CSFD wanted to bring ambulance services to a city enterprise
We talked with Mayor Yemi Mobolade and Colorado Springs Fire Chief Randy Royal. They both say the change would reduce response times and lower the cost…about six hundred dollars per trip.
The city council will be meeting here at city hall a bit earlier than normal… today's meeting and vote should begin at 11 am. If passed, the second and final meeting and council vote will be on June 25.
CSFD hoped to have the new service fully operational by April 2025. That's when the city's current contract with AMR ends, at this time it is unclear if the City plans to renew its contract with AMR following Tuesday's vote.
While the ambulance service appears to be tabled for now, it appears the fire department will continue to push for the creation of this city-run enterprise.
News5's Bill Folsom is at city council working to get the answers behind the council members decisions and will have a full report on News5 at 6 p.m.
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