City enters ambulance competition debate

Erin Neff

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

When the Clark County Commission considered medical service competition Tuesday, representatives of two ambulance services offered conflicting views.

But when the Las Vegas City Council considers the same item next Wednesday, a third party will enter the fray.

Las Vegas Fire & Rescue Services will lobby the council as hard as representatives from American Medical Response and Southwest Ambulance.

The addition of the city's own medical transport service into the political arena could prove the deciding factor in the whole debate over how best to provide ambulance service to the valley's growing population.

"Before I do anything I want to hear from our Fire and Rescue department to see whether or not there should be more participation from them as long as competition is the word of the day," Mayor Oscar Goodman said Wednesday.

The County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to process Southwest Ambulance's application for a franchise -- the first step toward allowing Southwest to compete with AMR.

AMR is currently the county's lone ambulance service. In the city of Las Vegas, both the city fire department and AMR conduct medical transports.

Since both the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas have the same franchise agreement with AMR that the county does, any decision by the County Commission must also be approved by the two cities.

North Las Vegas has not yet scheduled the item for a council meeting.

But although the county moved toward allowing Southwest to compete, the Las Vegas City Council could very easily kill that agreement by rejecting Southwest's application for a franchise within the city limits.

City Councilman Larry Brown said he is not sure how he will vote Dec. 15, but expects to be lobbied by all three sides leading up to that meeting.

"I will be briefed by both ambulances in addition to our internal briefing from Fire and Rescue," Brown said.

City Councilman Gary Reese said he has previously met with representatives of both AMR and Southwest -- "one for and one against the franchise."

He too said he has not yet made up his mind about the ambulance franchise but appears to be leaning toward allowing Southwest to proceed with its application.

"I read about what AMR said at the County Commission," said Reese, taking time to talk while cutting a man's hair at his barber shop. "That's like me trying to say there shouldn't be any more barber shops."

Southwest's attorney, Todd Bice, told the County Commission that his company will add a third more ambulances to the streets and offer 10 percent lower rates than AMR. AMR charges an average of $500 per transport.

Paul Larsen, the attorney representing AMR, asked the county to delay allowing a second ambulance company until AMR's contract expires in 2003.

Larsen argued the county could open up the bidding process at that time without being influenced by political consultants.

Southwest's consultants included gaming attorney Frank Schreck and R&R Advertising's Billy Vassiliadis. County Commissioner Dario Herrera's public relations company, Massmedia Inc., had offered to represent AMR in May.