New year new board
The Board of Directors from L-R: J/E Larry Wilson, Karisa Peterson, Ervin Sorrell, Neil Thornbury, Attorney Brian Pack, Jackie Brown, and Garland Gilliam. Photo by PJ Martin
By PJ Martin
Editor
The Herald-News
The January meeting of the Barren-Metcalfe County Emergency Medical Services Board of Directors was held on the 25th in the Barren County fiscal courtroom.
The 2023 Board of Directors consists of Jackie Brown, Garland Gilliam, and Karisa Peterson, all Directors for Barren County, Ervin Sorrell and Neil Thornbury both Directors for TJ Regional Health, and Judge/Executive Larry Wilson as Director for Metcalfe County.
The first order of business was to elect officers. Nominations were heard and votes were taken with Ervin Sorrell named as Chairman. A vote was held to combine the Executive Secretary and Executive Treasurer positions and Shawn Estes was then approved to fill the position.
Chairman Sorrell appointed the following to the Finance Committee: Jackie Brown-Chair, Larry Wilson, and Garland Gilliam. He also appointed the following to the Personnel Committee: Karisa Peterson-Chair, Neil Thornbury, and himself.
Next, Jeff Carter, CPA with Taylor, Polson, & Company, PSC presented the Independent Auditor’s Report for the year ending June 30, 2022. Carter announced a clean audit of the Ambulance Service Corporation and went on to explain several bits of data in more detail.
Financials
Executive Secretary/Treasurer Shawn Estes presented the December financial statement reporting that monthly contributions from each of the partners were TJ Samson $62,455, Barren Co. $59,863, Metcalfe Co. $33,819, and GEMT $42,283 for a total of $203,420.
The cash receipts from patient payments, GEMT (Medicaid and Medicare), Air Methods, grants/loans, and partners totaled $521,124. The total expenses for the month including loan payments were $501,920.
Operations Report
Executive Director Joe Middleton presented the run totals for December as 857 for Barren Co. and 156 for Metcalfe Co. the 2022 year to date totals were Barren Co. 9,460 and Metcalfe Co. 1,494 for a total of 10,954 in 2022, which was 335 more runs than in 2021.
Middleton announced that the new ambulance which was scheduled to be delivered in December was rejected, because it was involved in an automobile accident when the manufacturer test-drove it. A replacement ambulance was to be delivered on Monday, January 30th and the January ambulance delivery was scheduled to arrive on Friday, February 3rd.
ARPA Funds
The board approved an updated ARPA fund payout schedule for the remaining funds. Two employees who worked time in both Barren and Metcalfe County were not on the retention bonus list for the time worked between March 2020 and March 2021. Those two employees had a discrepancy as to where some of their hours were actually worked.
“What I would ask the board to consider is bringing those two employees in on this list and paying them in accordance with the rest of the agreement for the Barren County employees, so those remaining two Metcalfe County employees also get that retention bonus, but we pay it out of general funds versus using ARPA funds,” requested Director Middleton.
The board approved the payout schedule for the remaining ARPA funds in the amount of $32,165.81 and the use of General Funds for the payment of the ± $2,800. This payment will zero out the ARPA funds account.
New Business
The first reading of the proposed amendments to the Bylaws of the Ambulance Service Corporation, Inc. was approved 5 – 0 with Director Gilliam abstaining from the vote. Gilliam abstained stating he had not had the required 48 hours’ notice to look over the changes.
The board went into a closed session and returned with no action taken.
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for February 22nd at 4 p.m. at the Barren County fiscal courtroom.
