Calif. County`s Ambulance Travails May Open Door for New Provider

Sept. 04--Already facing bankruptcy, Santa Clara County's troubled ambulance provider is preparing a plan to cut short its five-year contract, on which the company claims to be losing $5 million annually.

But Rural/Metro's western operations chief John Wilson said his company -- which has been plagued by complaints over late response times and poorly maintained vehicles -- would likely bid on a new contract with the county if it is freed from its current commitment.

The company's proposal to change its contract terms surfaced in an email Friday to union negotiators in which Wilson wrote he intended "to send a letter of request to the County of Santa Clara asking them to accelerate the end date of our current contract and rebid the 911 contract within the next twelve months."

Reached Tuesday, Wilson insisted Rural/Metro was "absolutely not bailing on the contract."

He said the union's negotiating team had taken what he thought was a confidential email out of context as a bargaining ploy. The company and its EMS workers are embroiled in a bitter contract dispute.

"We have been and remain committed to working with Santa Clara County," Wilson said.

But with more than two years left on the deal with a company on shaky financial footing, county officials have been preparing a back-up ambulance plan to serve the county's 1.8 million residents.

Rural/Metro's $375 million contract has been controversial from the start. Critics charged that the company low-balled its bid in 2010 during a high-stakes battle to take over the county's ambulance service from longtime provider American Medical Response. County taxpayers don't pay the bill -- ambulance users and their insurance companies do -- but the county monitors the company's compliance and performance.

County Executive Jeff Smith said Tuesday he believes Rural/Metro remains committed to the community it serves, but he insisted the county will not consider any kind of rebidding of the contract unless the Board of Supervisors agrees to such a move. And, he said, a rebid would have to be contingent upon AFSCME Local 4911 and the ambulance company agreeing to a one-year deal to settle their labor dispute.

"It is not up to just Rural/Metro or the union," Smith said. "The board has to decide what they want to do.

"The county wants to have security. Either we want this contract to be fulfilled, or we want to look at another contract."

The union is asking what would amount to annual 6 percent pay raises for its 300-plus members for each of the next three years.

But Rural/Metro has rejected that proposal, and the parties instead are discussing a one-year employee contract that would offer a total 6 percent pay raise. Smith said the company needs a year to restructure its massive debt to exit bankruptcy.

County officials have said the bankruptcy action is not expected to affect ambulance service, which Smith said should continue to run smoothly even if ambulance workers were to strike because of back-up plans both the county and Rural/Metro have in place.

Curt Ostrander, lead negotiator for the EMS workers, said if the county Board of Supervisors rejects the idea of rebidding the contract, the union will press for its original three-year deal.

He said Wilson told him in June that the union "can partner with us to stay with Rural/Metro and the county," or the union "could help us exit" the contract.

A few days later, Ostrander said, Wilson recanted what he'd told him. So when the idea of rebidding the contract surfaced last week, he asked Wilson to spell out the company's intentions with the county in a letter. Wilson, he said, agreed to do so unofficially in an email, which was obtained by the Mercury News on Tuesday.

Last year, the county hit the private ambulance company with $5 million in fines for a litany of issues -- including failure to have three ambulances poised to deploy, arriving late and vehicle breakdowns -- according to public records. This year, it corrected those deficiencies but ran into financial difficulties, missing a $15.6 million interest payment on July 15, and was hit with downgrades of its debt.

Contact Tracy Seipel at 408 275-0140.

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