More Than 300 Losing Rural/Metro Jobs in Indiana

Aug. 22--At least 330 full- and part-time employees of Rural/Metro will lose their jobs when the ambulance company pulls out of six Indiana communities, including several in Central Indiana, a company official said.

Mark Lashley, senior vice president of Rural/Metro, said in a phone interview Thursday that the layoffs will occur over the next four months in six counties: Cass, Johnson, Madison, Morgan, Union and Wayne.

The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company, which is being reorganized, has contracts with four of those county governments. The other contracts are with Greenwood in Johnson County and Martinsville in Morgan County.

Employees have the option to relocate with Rural/Metro, Lashley said. The company also has offered to help employees find work with the company replacing Rural/Metro.

"We will work to get them positions with whoever ends up taking over the services," Lashley said. "We will do whatever we can to make sure folks land on their feet."

Greenwood has at least two dozen part-time and full-time employees with Rural/Metro, Fire Chief James Sipes said at a news conference Tuesday. They operate in Greenwood and in a partner department in Whiteland.

Greenwood employees will be given 90 days' notice, Lashley said. Sipes said the employees, as well as the partner departments, would be involved in the transition.

"Once we have an idea of a timeline, we would hope to do what we can to keep them (employees) in the communication process," Sipes said.

Rural/Metro filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last August amid mounting debts and strained cash flow. The company emerged from bankruptcy protection under a court-approved reorganization plan.

Lashley said Rural/Metro is performing well since re-emerging from bankruptcy and will continue to operate in other Indiana communities.

"This has to do specifically with these six counties in Indiana and not with the company's overall financial health," he said.

Lashley also said he previously recommended that those communities pay subsidies to cover extra costs, but they didn't.

"The municipalities have some work to do to figure out what they're going to do moving forward," he said. "If they don't want to pay subsidies, it's going to be a challenge for anybody who takes over for us if they operate under the same set of circumstances that we did."

Lashley did not specify where Rural/Metro requested subsidies.

Sipes said Rural/Metro did not discuss subsidizing the service with Greenwood.

Call Star reporter Steph Solis at (317) 444-6494. Follow her on Twitter: @stephmsolis.

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