Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters told AM 1180 on Thursday that he plans to hold another meeting regarding the possible privatizing of the Chattooga County EMS sometime in January.  The commissioner said that it is important to make sure that everyone has input into the idea. 

Overall the commissioner said that response has been positive, although Winters concedes there is a very vocal opposition to the move to privatization.  At last night’s County Commissioner’s meeting, Gore area resident and local businessman Larry Simpson spoke at the public comment portion of the meeting saying that he didn’t feel that a private company would give the same quality of service as a locally run EMS. Simpson, a former EMS worker, said " I understand the situation of the others (Redmond and Floyd) being cheaper…..but in working with the service up here and in working in conjunction with the other two services, I just don’t believe we will get the same service in the long-run from them that we do from a local service….I may be proven wrong in the long-run……it would be cheaper for us to raise taxes and maintain the service than to pay increased fees (from the private providers)"

Commissioner Winters told AM 1180 on Thursday that he will make a decision about the privatization of EMS before the end of January.  At that meeting Winters will present what it would cost to continue to maintain the county-run ambulance service.  Winters added that doesn’t mean that if he decides to privatize the ambulance service that he will have a contract signed by the end of January – only that a decision would be made between keeping the status quo or going with an outside company.