County commission soliciting bids for EMS services

The Jackson County Commissioners are soliciting bids for ambulance services in Jackson County for 2023.

Requests for proposals for emergency services were sent to Techs, Inc., which operates Jackson County EMS (and currently serves the county), and Global Medical Response, Inc. of Colorado, which operates American Medical Response.

Sealed bids are due at 4 p.m. Friday to the county and will be reviewed during the Monday, May 16, Jackson County Commission meeting. 

Bids must include a one-year contract for services, but commissioners said they are willing to consider multi-year contracts. 

The county is currently in a three-year contract with Jackson County EMS to provide ambulance services for the county. The contract includes a payment of $352,000 to Jackson County EMS each year in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The contract expires at the end of this year. 

Last fall, Brent Teter and Jay Watkins, who own Jackson County EMS, told the commissioners that their current county funding level was not enough to cover operating expenses.

The men asked the commissioners to renegotiate the current contract with additional funds starting in January 2022. 

One proposed contract included a $593,237 free for services for 2022 and another contract included a $658,237 fee for services. 

Since the county budget had already been set for the year and the county and the business were still in the middle of the signed contract, the commissioners said they were unable to consider an increase or a new contract at that time.

Commissioners agreed to allocate $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Acts funds to Jackson County EMS.

For more on this story, log into your holtonrecorder.net account and select “May 11, 2022” under E-Editions.