County officials are moving forward in the process that will soon establish a county-wide ambulance service for Franklin County.

At their business meeting on Monday, the Franklin County Commission said they would be sending proposals from three different ambulance service providers to the county’s EMS committee for review before a county-wide provider would be chosen.

The three providers that submitted proposals included Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service, Transcare Ambulance Service, and Shoals Ambulance Service.

Franklin County Commission Chairman Barry Moore said he didn’t feel the commission had enough information to make a final decision on the county’s ambulance provider, so he said the best decision would be to send the information to the EMS committee and await their recommendation.

“We want to make the best, most well-informed decision we can make because this is a very important issue,” Moore said.

“The county commission’s purpose is to provide the best service possible for our citizens, and we want to make sure we have all the facts before moving forward.

“This is what the county’s EMS committee was created for and we believe this group of people is well-equipped to review the proposal requests and come up with an ambulance provider that will be the best one for our county and our citizens.”

The county’s EMS committee was established in February when the commission also approved a county-wide ambulance ordinance that lays out uniform regulations for any emergency medical service (EMS) provider within the county.

The ordinance stated the EMS Committee would be responsible for reviewing and updating the ordinance, handling the request for proposals from prospective EMS providers who want to operate in Franklin County, and handling any and all complaints made against an EMS provider currently operating in the county.

Members of the 10-member, county-wide EMS committee include Roy Gober, Franklin County EMA director; Dr. Kevin Kelly, medical director for Russellville Fire Department; Russellville Fire Chief Joe Mansell; Belinda Johnson, chief nursing officer for Russellville Hospital; Doug Hatton, Franklin County Commission representative; Linda Holcomb, city of Red Bay representative; Sue Raper, town of Vina representative; and Frankie Petree, town of Hodges representative.

Gober said spots on the committee are also available for representatives from Red Bay Hospital and the town of Phil Campbell but those have not been appointed at this time.

Gober said the committee will meet to review the proposals in order to make the best decision.

“This is a very important issue,” Gober said. “These people will be providing emergency care to our county’s citizens, and we want to make sure they are receiving the highest level of care possible and that the provider maintains that level of care.”

Gober said they have several different qualifications they will be looking for and each provider will be graded based on how well they measure up to those qualifications.

Once the proposals have been reviewed and graded, the committee will make a recommendation for a provider.

Moore said he hoped to have a recommendation before the next commission business meeting on May 19.