Flagler and Palm Coast officials opened the door to discussions about how to make the city's emergency medical services more efficient at a Tuesday morning workshop that stretched into the afternoon.
Flagler County operates the seven ambulances that serve the city, two of which are permanently stationed within city limits. The city assists the ambulances with personnel who respond using other vehicles, including fire engines to make sure there are enough people to do all that's needed on a medical call.
Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts and Council Member Steven Nobile have expressed concerns about the mileage on the trucks, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are costly to maintain. Council members asked city fire officials to come up with some suggestions to ameliorate the problem.
They were also looking to see if there was a more efficient way to respond to emergencies.
"What I am looking for is: what are our other options? Instead of sending two guys on a big red fire truck to chase after the ambulance, how about we put them on the ambulance?" Netts said in interviews before the workshop. "There’s not just one answer to this."
Fire Chief Mike Beadle presented several ideas that ran the gamut from the city getting its own ambulances to offering more personnel to staff the county's ambulances.
County Administrator Craig Coffey, County General Services Director Heidi Petito and County Commissioner Nate McLaughlin attended the meeting. Coffey said he'd be glad to sit down with the city to discuss the issue.