The El Dorado City Council will convene for a regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in the Council Chamber of City Hall.
Under new business on the council’s agenda is a proposed ground transportation services agreement with Survival Flight, an emergency medical air transportation company that is based at Medical Center of South Arkansas.
At the start of the year, MCSA and Survival Flight formed an alliance to enhance emergency air transport services in South Arkansas by equipping the hospital with an on-site helicopter and crew.
“On occasion, we are asked to transport their crew to either meet an airplane with a patient or transport their crew and a patient out to (South Arkansas Regional Airport) to meet a plane,” Mosby said.
“That typically happens when a person needs to be transported by air but the weather is too bad for a helicopter or when they’re traveling a long, long distance,” he continued.
Mosby said the El Dorado Fire Department has been asked to enter into a ground transportation agreement with Survival Flight and MCSA.
He noted that the EFD receives requests for ground transportation service only a few times a year, but such requests are expected to pick up now that air emergency transport services are based in El Dorado.
The EFD’s billing structure allows the department to invoice its regular rate and it is customary to charge a flat rate for ambulance assists with emergency medical flights, the fire chief explained.
“That allows us the opportunity to manage costs and budget for those things. It’s really a rare occasion but they’ve approached us and asked if we would enter an agreement with them and I didn’t see a problem with it,” Mosby said. “(City Attorney Henry Kinslow) read over it and thought it was a good deal.”
He said the request extends to the EFD’s partnership with Pro-Med Ambulance, which serves Union County. The ambulance services partner to assist if each other when the need arises.
In other business, the council will consider appointments to fill two vacancies on the El Dorado Works Board.
Last week, board members spoke with two of three candidates who had applied to fill a seat that had been left vacant by former EWB member George Calloway Jr.
Calloway resigned from the board earlier this year, citing personal reasons. He is running for Arkansas State Representative District 7.
His five-year term was renewed in January and more than four years remain on the term.
Sara Coffman, Mumtaz MF and Robert Henderson applied for the vacant seat and board members heard from Coffman and MF during a regular EWB meeting Oct. 13.
The board agreed to schedule a special meeting to allow all board members time to review applications and to make a decision and a recommendation to city officials prior to today’s council meeting.
The EWB regrouped Monday and interviewed all three candidates.
During the meeting, EWB treasurer Alison Abson, who participated in the meeting via phone, resigned unexpectedly, saying that she recently accepted a new job in Little Rock due to being laid off from her former job El Dorado.
“I haven’t been able to attend the meetings so this is my verbal resignation of the board so if the board can go ahead and pick two candidates, that would be great,” Abson said.
After further discussion, the board voted to recommend MF and Coffman for the El Dorado City Council to serve on the EWB.