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A series of resolutions that would restructure the official oversite of the county’s ambulance service from the Coffee County Ambulance Authority to a standing Public Safety Committee was pulled from the agenda at the Sept. 12 County Commission Meeting before being brought up for discussion.

The motion to remove the item from the agenda was made by Commissioner Tim Brown with an amendment to the agenda that passed 10-6 with one commissioner abstaining.

“I would like make a motion that we pull (the resolution) from the agenda,” Brown said.

“We’ve had no discussion about it and it came up too quick. I don’t have any information to vote on it,” Brown said, with Commissioner Dwight Miller seconding the motion.

By pulling the resolution from the agenda (along with related items creating a Safety Committee and filling that position with five commissions) the matter did not come up for discussion. However, during the public comment period, Ambulance Authority Members, Drs. Jeff Keele and Jay Trussler each criticized the way the matter had passed through the committee level.

Keele questioned the way the Ambulance Authority had voted to dissolve itself while he and Trussler were absent.

Keele, a former commissioner, told the commission that the matter of dissolving the Ambulance Authority died due to lack of interest when it was brought up in November of 2022. He told the commission that he and Trussler had offered strong opposition to the restructuring of the authority.

“(Then) Commissioner Frank Watkins amended the agenda last minute at the (August) meeting to add the discussion to dissolve the authority.  It was seconded by (Authority Member) Missy DeFord and passed three to nothing with apparently no discussion,” Keele said, referring to the brief description from the meeting minutes.

“In my view,” Keele said, “the circumstances of this vote are suspect, and make me wonder about ulterior motives and hidden agendas.”

“It was then ran through Legislative Committee and put on this commission agenda in less than a month,” Keele said, asking the commission to vote against dissolving the authority.

Trussler doubled down on Keele’s assertion that Watkins, Ambulance Authority Chairman Tim Stubblefield and DeFord could have had additional motives.

“It’s as Nancy Pelosi said, ‘You have to pass the bill to see what’s in it,’ “Trussler said. “If you want to find out the motive (of these commissioners), go ahead and dissolve the Ambulance Authority and you’ll find out.”

“I have an altruistic heart when it comes to this. I want to make sure that my parents — when they dial 911, an ambulance shows up at their house … as quickly possible,” Trussler said.

Trussler told the commission that he wasn’t notified of the meeting schedule change until three hours before the meeting, and then said that DeFord said she was pressured to side with the other members.

“You don’t need to be on the commission if you are going to be pressured by either one of these two,” Trussler said.

Commissioner DeFord, however, said that “after the discussion of the Public Safety Committee, I voted for what I thought was best for the future of Coffee County and the safety of the citizens.”

While the meeting minutes from the August Ambulance Authority discussion were scant, the announcements concerning scheduling, canceling and rescheduling the meeting was announced as usual.

The Aug. 23 meeting was originally to be held on Aug. 17, but was canceled due to Stubblefield having COVID-19 and his potentially exposing the other members at the Aug.16 Consolidated 911 Board meeting. 

Coffee County EMS Administrative Assistant, Lorie Nunley sent an email that read, “Tonight’s meeting has been cancelled (Tim has COVID).  (It will be) rescheduled for Wednesday, August 23^rd at 5:00.”

The Mayor’s Office also emailed notification on Aug. 18 announcing the new time. The meeting was posted on the County Website.

Commissioner Stubblefield said that he canceled the Aug. 17 meeting due to concerns that other members were potentially exposed to COVID at the 911 board meeting the night before.

County Mayor Judd Matheny said that a resolution drafting the dissolving the Ambulance Authority was put on the Legislative Committee agenda and posted seven days in advance of the meeting.

That meeting (held Aug. 29) was a joint Policies and Procedures/Legislative Committee meeting attended by eight commissioners plus two members not on the full commission.   

According to the minutes from that meeting the Public Safety Committee would currently only handle county EMS business and involve all other listed agencies in the future. 

A motion was made for the County Attorney Ed North to correct two grammatical errors and approve the resolution dissolving the Ambulance Authority. That motion was made by Commissioner Watkins and seconded by Commissioner Joe Mike Hodge. Motion passed unanimously.

Those minutes were included with the agenda for the Full Commission meeting, as were the Ambulance Authority meeting minutes.

The Mayor said that the matter will not be introduced again unless it is reintroduced by the authority.  

Had the restructuring passed, the Public Safety Committee would be a five member standing committee. Commissioners Watkins, Stubblefield, Holly Jones, Terry Hershman and DeFord were slated to fill the new committee.

Structurally, the main difference between the authority and the new committee would be that the director of EMS would be under the direct supervision of the County Mayor and all county EMS employees would be under the county’s personnel manual. EMS employees could address human resource concerns HR Director Heather Shelton rather than bringing them before a board in a public meeting.

Per the discussion held at the Aug. 23 meeting, the reason the shift was brought up was due to the state’s acquisition of the Interstate Industrial Complex (megasite) and what is expected to be unprecedented growth related to development there. In anticipation of that, the county foresees a paid fire department that would be managed by a public safety committee.

Stubblefield said after the meeting that he felt the state’s intent to develop the megasite likely changed the minds of members of the authority who had previously shown no interest in restructuring.         

The vote to amend the resolution passed with Hodge, DeFord, Duncan, Stubblefield, Sebourn and Watkins voting no. Commissioner Laura Nettles was absent and Jones, absent from much of the discussion, abstained.