A controversial move that resulted in a change of ambulance service providers in Brookshire will be revisited during tonight’s city council meeting when council members hear a proposal from the Waller/Harris County Emergency Services District to provide emergency medical services for the city.
Tommy Albert is slated to present the proposal on behalf of the emergency services district.
In a hastily-called special meeting in the waning days of 2009, the Brookshire City Council awarded a one-year EMS contract to a private company, Providence EMS, for $65,000.
Mayor Joseph Vaughn said the city could not afford the $145,000 nonprofit Brookshire EMS said it needed to continue operating.
Brookshire EMS had been providing emergency medical services in the community since 1975. The service was originally established as a primarily volunteer operation, but when the number of volunteers dwindled, it was forced to hire EMTs to provide 24-7 coverage with the department’s pair of mobile intensive care ambulances.
Since the change, the controversy has continued to simmer within the community amid allegations the city council – primarily Vaughn – unnecessarily sacrificed residents’ safety through the change when there were other, less-critical areas of the city budget that could have been cut.
Other items on tonight’s agenda include possible action on extending the city’s solid waste contract with Republic Waste Services, as well as a request to close Fourth Street between Cooper and Velasco for a car show.
Council members will also take up a hotel-motel grant application and consider a partial re-plat of Virat Crossing on the southeast corner of IH-10 and FM 359 South.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Brookshire City Hall.
By: John Pape on Thu, Mar 4, 2010
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