BENTONVILLE —Benton County’s justices of the peace resumed the debate over ambulance service Thursday night in an unscheduled discussion after they disposed of the Quorum Court’s regular business.
At A Glance
Court Action
Benton County’s Quorum Court met Thursday and approved:
• Amending county code regarding the operation of private clubs.
• The county judge to apply for a $930 rain garden grant.
• Spending $10,365 from a grant to repair voting machines.
• Spending $32,500 for a courts building feasibility study.
Source: Staff Report
Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6, suggested the county solicit an outside source with knowledge of the emergency medical services field to develop a business model for a county-operated system. Adams suggested the Quorum Court form a three-member panel to oversee the initial work and bring the information back to the full court for a decision.
“I think we have to go outside the county for true numbers,” Adams said. “We need to ask them to tell us what what it will take to actually build a business.”
The end-of-the-meeting discussion was prompted by comments made by Willene Johnson of the Avoca area during the normal public comment portion of the meeting. Johnson suggested a county sales tax could pay for ambulance service and provide a better source of money than fees or property taxes.
“We don’t want you to take it out of county funds like you’re doing,” Johnson said.
Adams said he would expect his suggested process would take three to six months. He suggested the information the county has been working on in it’s discussions of ambulance service so far has been “county-driven.”
“We need to take the county out of this,” Adams said.
Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4, pointed out the county has commissioned and received a study he said contains much of the information requested. Allen made a motion to bring the study prepared by the Ludwig Group as a discussion item for the next Committee of the Whole meeting.
The county has been working with the eight ambulance providers — Northeast Benton County Fire Department and the municipal fire departments of Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale — on a way to pay for the service.
The Quorum Court also approved a resolution opposing the designation of the White River in Arkansas and Missouri as a National Blueway. Debbie Beckerdite, chairwoman of Northwest Arkansas Citizens for Better Government, took a similar resolution to the Washington County Quorum Court, which approved it last week. Beckerdite and others who spoke said the program threatened the rights of private property owners.