Numbers disputed in ambulance issue
By Arthur McLean Editor

Mayor Sheldon Day again addressed the ambulance issue at a rescheduled Thomasville City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Day said he wanted to clarify numbers that were reported in The Thomasville Times last week after that week's council meeting.

"It was reported that LifeLine was requesting $180,000 and $15,000 per month, but it should have been $180,000 or $15,000 per month," Day said. "I'm not sure if it was misheard or we misspoke. A lot of numbers were thrown around during our work session last week. I'm sorry if there were any misconceptions in public."

LifeLine owner Vida McDaniel said neither of those numbers was correct or presented to the healthcare authority when contacted by the Times after the meeting. "We've not made any formal proposal," she said. "We have not requested that amount."

McDaniel also said the comment that the numbers were "extremely high" could not be substantiated because LifeLine's financial requests have not been compared to other services, to her knowledge.

"I will say this," Day continued. "because of the magnitude of the issue and the sheer complexity, it changes every day."

"Our issue is to have a truck avail- able 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Day said. He reiterated his statement last week saying the cities and county need to determine what level of services they want and what they can afford to pay.

Day also said he was leaving the majority of the deliberations about what to do about the ambulance services in the hands of the city's healthcare authority. "We have four great people sitting on that healthcare authority, and I wanted them to be the ones to deal with that issue. I have ultimate confidence in them to handle this difficult issue."

McDaniel said she is currently waiting to hear from the county's review of the financial situation of the two services before making a final decision about the continued operation of LifeLine.

In other business, the council voted to declare an emergency that would allow Day to get bid amounts from contractors to put a new roof on the Boys and Girls Club building next to city hall. The roof was damaged during the recent week's storms and is leaking water.

Insurance estimates will pay $75,000 towards the cost of a new roof, anticipated to run about $110,000 based on earlier bids that included replacing the roof and other work on the building.

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