Helping EMS focus of special called Dale County meeting

How funding from the American Rescue Plan Act can help emergency medical service providers in Dale County was the focus of a special called Dale County Commission meeting held May 5 at the government building in Ozark.

Elected officials and EMS providers from Dale, Geneva and Henry Counties attended the meeting to discuss how the $9,551,085 ARPA funds allocated for Dale County can best benefit the county.

ARPA is a $1.9 trillion federal COVID-19 relief package that was signed into law in March 2021. Dale County, with an allocation of nearly $10 million under the plan, is among 41 Alabama counties that has partnered with the the Association of County Commissions of Alabama for its administration.

The ACCA’s “Investing in Alabama Counties” program is poised to guide counties through best use of the federal funding received under the ARPA, according to Dale County Commission Chairman Steve McKinnon, who added that the federal funds are allocated directly to the counties based on the county share of the United States population based on the most recent census data.

The first half of these funds were distributed in May 2021 and the second half will be distributed no sooner than 12 months later.

The funds are designed to aid in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its negative impacts. The funds are to be used by Dec. 31, 2024.

The funds can be used “to provide assistance to households, small businesses and nonprofits relative to the negative economic impacts of COVID-19,” according to the ACCA’s membership agreement. It may also be used to aid impacted industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality; to make necessary investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure; or, to include premium pay for eligible workers performing essential work during the pandemic.”

The ACCA will also provide intergovernmental assistance during the four and one half year relief program and serve as a liaison with the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts and the Alabama Attorney General’s office. Conducting training sessions with county leaders and personnel on the projects selected for their county to enable those leaders to inform the community and media of its plan for the funds is also part of the service the ACCA provides.

According to the agreement, the county would appropriate a percentage of the funds to be received. The service fee is to be paid to the ACCA no later than Oct. 6, 2021.

“Our ARPA money is county money and it needs to be used in Dale County,” said McKinnon. He added that the county commission understands that the most pressing need is for the emergency medical service providers in the county and with that in mind, “the most reasonable and accountable way to support the county rescue units is going to be by the division of square miles in the county—eliminating municipalities and police jurisdictions.”

ACCA Executive Director Sonny Brasfield said that the organization’s IAC was initiated after the ARPA was passed. “Within four or five days, we had an emergency meeting of the board of directors to talk about how we could help the counties make sure that the money is spent in compliance with federal law.”

Ultimately 41 counties, to include Dale, Geneva, Henry and Houston, joined the IAC. “Our role is trying to help counties find the pathway to utilize the money effectively and efficiently and most importantly in compliance with federal accounting procedure restrictions purchasing requirements, ARPA period, that everyone of these counties have spent this money properly and effectively and that there are absolutely no audit findings on any of the counties for the expenditure of this money.

“We interface with and help county government on a daily basis, so we take the responsibility that these 41 counties have given us extremely seriously,” Brasfield said. “We don’t tell them that we feel good about an expenditure of this federal money that comes with an enormous amount of responsibility without spending an enormous amount of time getting to a place that we feel comfortable.

“Folks have gotten a little frustrated with us, to be honest,” Brasfield added. “We have said that we are going to be accurate and compliant. We’re not going to be fast. We didn’t make quick judgments.

“There is some some level of frustration that the ball on this issue has perhaps moved more slowly than you would liked for it to have moved,” Brasfield said. “That frustration ought to be focused on me and the association, not on the folks who flagged this issue as important from the very start.

“Imagine a map of Dale County in which we eliminate the cities and Fort Rucker,” Brasfield said. “What you would have is a map of the rural unincorporated area of the county.

“The idea before us is that somehow the incorporated areas of Dale County are allocated or divided among the existing medical service programs in the county so that each program has an ‘official’ service area that the respective EMS has agreed to respond to calls in that area.

“There will be an allocation on a quarterly basis and that quarterly would be based on the square miles that are inside that area,” Brasfield said. “We see that as a pathway that is well within the federal guidelines. We think this will be a model for other parts of the state.”

Brasfield encouraged those present to discuss which EMS service would agree to service which unincorporated areas of Dale County. “The more quickly the area can get agreed upon, the sooner the program can begin,” he said. “Y’all get the lines drawn up and we’ll get on it.”

McKinnon said that if the EMS agencies can agree which service areas in the incorporated areas they will provide EMS for, the commission will be prepared to pass a resolution codifying the agreement at the meeting May 10.

“We have a great group that works hand-in-hand together so I think we can agree quickly,” said David Grubbs, president of the EMS Association of Dale County.

The ARPA funding ends Dec. 31, 2024.