Board Finance Committee Hears MDH Update on Lifeguard Contract
At Wednesday's McDonough County Board meeting, numerous new committee appointments were made following the December resignation of long-time Board member Terra Litchfield. Roger Ward was selected to fill the remainder of Litchfield's term.
Ward was appointed to the McDonough County Health Department Board for her remaining term, while Joe Erlandson was selected to fill Litchfield's term to the Tri-County Waste Recycling Board and Clayton Cook was named to the University of Illinois Extension Board.
The Board approved unanimously a final revision to the Intergovernmental Agreement Between McDonough County and the City of Macomb for the McDonough County Animal Shelter. Currently, the shelter is self-funded, around $100,000/year, from monies collected from animal registration fees and fines for failure to register. The funds collected pay for shelter operations, which includes one fulltime animal control officer (ACO) and an assistant officer (AACO). With the new agreement in place, the city will kick in additional funding to help pay the salaries for ACO ($45,650) and the AACO ($35,000), along with two part-time employees, as well as a portion of the salary for the county's deputy clerk in charge of animal registration fees. The McDonough County Board's Human Resources and Planning Committee oversees the operation of the shelter, and the City of Macomb will appoint a representative to the county committee In other business, the Board approved the extension for the Fiscal Year 2024 audit and approved the construction of a culvert over a branch of Little Creek in Hire Township at a cost of $51,000.
Finance Committee At the Jan. 14 meeting of the McDonough County's Finance Committee, McDonough District Hospital (MDH) officials brought forth financial concerns surrounding a new contract the hospital negotiated with Lifeguard Ambulance, which provides ambulance services for the county.
The new five-year contract, which was negotiated by MDH’s Chief Nursing Officer Wayne Laramie, will cost the hospital $600,000/ year, from its current $180,000/year as Macomb Fire Department personnel will no longer be sub-contracted as Lifeguard employees. A new contract with the fire department eliminated the provision in which firefighters were contracted to drive Lifeguard ambulances, which resulted in overtime for the fire department staff, along with shortages in fire department personnel when they were on ambulance runs, according to city officials.
City leadership and rural fire protection districts had expressed concerns regarding staffing and equipment shortages. Lifeguard purchased a new ambulance and added staff to ensure adequate coverage for the county, both of which has resulted in the increased costs, Laramie told the Finance Committee. MDH administration noted that a last resort option to pay for the additional expenses is a tax levy.
MDH leadership is asking the county and city to consider contributing toward the new contract; both entities have declined to commit additional funding at this time due to budgetary concerns and restraints. The hospital, which was among the first in the state to move to in-house emergency services in the early 1970s, moved from the in-house model to the current outsourced service with Lifeguard in 2018, under then-MDH CEO Kenny Boyd.
On June 5, 1970, the county board voted unanimously to fulfill the need for a county ambulance service, and 'file with the proper state and federal agencies for financial assistance on this matter, with the purpose in mind of providing a full ambulance services for all residents of said County' and that the ambulance service be provided to the county by McDonough District Hospital, 'who shall administer and service said operation on a contract basis with McDonough County, the hospital to perform and maintain said service at actual cost without profit.'
Under Illinois' 1973 Public Act 78-456, nonhome rule counties were authorized to provide emergency ambulance service to or from points within or without the county; or to combine with other units of government for the purpose of providing ambulance service. Before the county provides the operation of an ambulance service, an ordinance must be passed by a majority of the county board. Once passed, the Board may provide or operate an ambulance service, or contract with a private person, hospital, corporation or another governmental unit for the operation of ambulance service or subsidize the service.
The Community News Brief will continue to follow this matter, and what this new contract will mean in the long-term for the local hospital and the county.
The next meeting of the McDonough County Board is set for 7 p.m., Feb. 18.
