Posts Tagged Kurtz Ambulance Service

Calumet Park Fire Department news (more)

Jan 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 9 Comments

Less than two months after outsourcing its fire department to Kurtz Paramedic Service, Calumet Park Fire Chief Howard Fisher, who had served as chief since 2014, was let go earlier this month in what the mayor said was primarily a cost-cutting move. He’s hoping to find a replacement for Fisher — who made $82,126 last year — within the next few weeks. The mayor said he doesn’t expect the transition from a full-time chief to a part-timer working about 30 hours a week will have any impact on the department’s operations.

“I wanted a part-time (chief),” he said. “Since Kurtz was going to have their own staff and everything, I didn’t see the need to be paying $80,000-$90,000 for a full-time fire chief when I was gonna also have to be paying for an administrative person that was going to be there administering all the paperwork of that.”

Nicless Malley, a former village firefighter who now works for Kurtz, will serve as Calumet Park’s acting chief until a permanent replacement is found. Once the new fire chief is appointed, he or she and an existing fire office clerk will be the department’s only public employees, at a combined cost of between $80,000 and $90,000 without benefits. Kurtz employs the department’s 12 full-time firefighters, four of whom previously worked part-time for Calumet Park.

The details of Fisher’s separation agreement are still being worked out, but the mayor said he anticipates paying the former chief until Jan. 15, and compensating him for his approximately 40 accumulated sick days and two weeks of vacation.

Kurtz assumed control of Calumet Park’s fire department on Dec. 1, a few weeks after the village board approved a separation agreement with its firefighters union and signed a five-year contract with the private company to provide fire suppression and ambulance services.

Calumet Park will pay Kurtz a maximum of $829,380 in the first year of the contract, with progressive increases each year up to a maximum of $947,392 in the final year of the deal. The price tag does not include the salary of the fire chief and fire office clerk, and costs for building and apparatus maintenance and utilities, but is still expected to produce a significant savings for cash-strapped Calumet Park, officials have said.

The mayor said that he’d had discussions with officials from multiple south suburban towns about parlaying his deal with Kurtz into shared services agreements for fire suppression and ambulance services in their communities. He’s still evaluating whether such a shared services agreement with another municipality would make financial sense for Calumet Park, but that he expects to make a decision one way or another later this year.

“(Some towns) want me to completely take over their fire department,” he said. “If I wanted to do it today, I could sign them up today.”

Tags: Calumet Park Fire Department, Calumet Park fires fire chief, Calumet Park outsources fire department, chicagoareafire.com, Fire Chief Howard Fisher, Kurtz Ambulance Service, Kurtz Paramedic Service

Calumet Park Fire Department news (more)

Nov 24

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 4 Comments

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

In an historic move that could trigger a transformation in how small suburban municipalities deliver emergency services, Calumet Park has outsourced its fire department to a private contractor in an effort to cut costs. The board voted unanimously Nov. 8 to approve a separation agreement with its firefighters union and to enter into a five-year contract with Kurtz Ambulance Service to provide fire suppression and ambulance services to the village.

“It’s going to cause a chain reaction in the south suburbs with the communities that just can’t afford to pay the high salaries, the overtime and the equipment,” said the village’s attorney, noting that he was in discussions with three other south suburban communities about outsourcing their fire departments.

Kurtz will assume control of Calumet Park’s fire department on Dec. 1. As part of the arrangement, the company will supply 12 full-time firefighter/paramedics to staff Calumet Park’s department in four-person shifts, replacing the village’s 30-plus part-time firefighters. Four of the 12 will be current village firefighters who have signed on to work full-time for Kurtz.

Calumet Park will pay Kurtz $825,000 in the first year of the contract, with progressive increases each year up to a maximum of $925,000 in the final year of the five-year deal. That does not include the salary of the fire chief, who will remain a village employee or costs for building and apparatus maintenance and utilities. The village, which appropriated nearly $1.5 million for the fire department budget in fiscal year 2019, hopes to save at least a half-million dollars per year by contracting with Kurtz.

The village’s separation agreement with the unionized firefighters — which will pay them $1,000 per year for every year they’ve worked for Calumet Park — will cut into that savings in the first year of the contract. Per the separation agreement, the union members will receive half of their severance on Nov. 30 and the other half in spring 2019, with a total village outlay of around $240,000.

Martin Rita, a 12-year member of the department who serves as union president, said the union had proposed various concessions but had been unable to reach an agreement to keep services in house. He said he was glad that four current Calumet Park firefighters would be sticking around to ease the transition for Kurtz, but that he still had concerns about the quality of service a private company could provide.

The mayor praised village firefighters and said he’d never questioned the quality of service they were providing, but insisted that privatizing the department was necessary given the village’s dire financial state. One factor in his decision to privatize fire services was the recent realization that 18 part-time firefighters were pension eligible, and that the village could be on the hook for years of past pension payments. That, in addition to growing workers’ compensation and health care benefits for the department’s part-time workers, convinced village officials it was necessary to make the move.

Calumet Park officials said they eventually intend to expand their private fire and paramedic services beyond village boundaries in hopes of generating revenue for the community’s coffers. If all goes as planned, Calumet Park expects to enter intergovernmental firefighting and EMS agreements with surrounding communities, much like the ones it already has to provide 911 dispatch services for a handful of neighbors through its emergency communications center — also operated by Kurtz.

Joe Richert, the secretary-treasurer for Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represented the Calumet Park firefighters union, said this was the first time he’d seen a private firm supplant a unionized department.

Pat Devaney, president of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois, which represents 224 affiliate departments and more than 15,000 professional firefighters across the state, said the threat of fire department privatization in Illinois is nothing new, but that outside of North Riverside — where privatization attempts were stymied by the courts — he was not aware of another example of a municipality making good on its threat to outsource services.

thanks Ron

Tags: Calumet Park Fire Department, Calumet Park outsources fire department, chicagoareafire.com, Fire Chief Howard Fisher, Kurtz Ambulance Service

Tinley Park receives huge bill from previous EMS provider (more)

Nov 1

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Tinley Park is being sued over $492,000 its former ambulance contractor claims it is owed from the village.

Tinley officials have adamantly denied owing Trace Ambulance any money for past services while Trace previously billed Tinley for $492,000. A Will County court may end up deciding who is right in a controversy that has been simmering since summer 2014, when Tinley Park dropped longtime vendor Trace Ambulance for New Lenox-based Kurtz Ambulance.

Christopher Vandenberg, president of the company based in Tinley Park, said Trace “attempted for several months” to reach an agreement with the village, but Tinley “continued to deny that any amount was due to Trace.”

“Unfortunately, because the Village was unwilling to even acknowledge that any amounts were owed, we were left with no choice but to initiate the litigation to recover the amounts we were contractually due,” Vandenberg said in an email.

Dave Niemeyer, Tinley’s Village Manager, said the village is “vigorously defending this claim” but declined further comment.

In court documents, Tinley Park has denied owing Trace any money and denied that Trace complied with all its contractual obligations. The lawsuit was filed in Will County earlier this year. At a Friday hearing, a Will County judge scheduled status hearing in the case for Jan. 5.

The lawsuit asks for a judge to declare that Tinley “is obligated to compensate Trace pursuant to the contract,” Vandenberg said. The lawsuit does not specify how much Tinley allegedly owes, but $492,000 is what the company billed Trace last year, and Tinley refused to pay, Niemeyer said.

Vandenberg, whose relative Jake Vandenberg is a trustee on the village board, said he still hopes “that we can avoid the expense of prolonged litigation and resolve this matter amicably.” Jake Vandenberg said in an email that he has “zero financial interest” in the ambulance company and has not participated in any board discussions about Trace or any litigation it is involved in with the village.

The financial dispute began last summer, after Tinley awarded Kurtz a contract worth an estimated $3.7 million through July 2018. Tinley sought a new ambulance contract in spring 2014, and Kurtz and Trace were the only competitors.

Trace contends its expired deal with Tinley said the village would pay $200 for each hour the town required more than the number of ambulances stipulated in the contract. After Tinley Park dropped Trace, the company tallied those hours since May 2010 and sent the village a final bill totaling $492,206.

The village received its final bill from Trace less than two weeks after Kurtz took over. In a written response to Trace’s invoice last summer, Tinley Park Treasurer Brad Bettenhausen said the village was surprised, “as we had not been previously advised such charges existed.”

“It would be expected that had such charges arisen, they would have been brought (to) the village’s attention and billed at regular intervals over the course of the contract period, with such billing expected to occur no less than annually,” Bettenhausen wrote the company at the time. “No such notice or billing of such charges has occurred” before the bill.

The town denied Trace’s bill and also questioned its accuracy, saying it could find no record that it had requested the additional service.

Switching vendors was a contentious process for the village.

The first signs of conflict emerged at a public safety meeting in May 2014, when village officials revealed the Kurtz bid had come in significantly lower than Trace’s. Trace executives warned that the health care industry is undergoing many changes and changing vendors would be a risk.

Ultimately, Tinley officials said they made the switch because Trace’s proposal was 21 percent more expensive than Kurtz’s.

Trace shares a long history with Tinley, having served as the village’s ambulance provider since 1979 except for a brief interruption in the 1990s, officials previously said.

thanks Dan

Tags: Christopher Vandenberg, Kurtz Ambulance Service, Tinley Park Fire Department, Tinley Park signs with new EMS provider', Trace Ambulance

Tinley Park receives huge bill from previous EMS provider

Oct 23

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 5 Comments

The Chicago Tribune has an article about a bill from Trace Ambulance to the Village of Tinley Park.

Tinley Park severed its 35-year relationship with a local ambulance provider this summer in a move that officials said will save the town money. But less than two weeks after the contract ended, the village received a final, shocking bill from Trace Ambulance for nearly $500,000.

The money was for fees the company typically waived in the past, Trace President Christopher Vandenberg said. “I think it’s clear as day that we’re owed the money,” he said.

The village has refused to pay, and officials have declined to comment on the dispute, citing the potential for litigation.

“We do not believe that Trace is or ever was entitled to any additional compensation for these claimed amounts,” Tinley Park Treasurer Brad Bettenhausen wrote in a letter to the company obtained by the Tribune through an open records request.

The financial standoff began in July, shortly after Tinley Park dropped its ambulance service provider and gave a contract worth $3.7 million through July 2018 to a competitor. The competitor, Kurtz Ambulance in New Lenox, had a bid 21 percent lower than what Trace had bid, officials said. Trace contends its expired deal with Tinley said the village would pay $200 for each hour the town required more than the number of ambulances stipulated in the contract. After Tinley Park dropped Trace, the company tallied those hours since May 2010 and sent the village a final bill totaling $492,206.

That Aug. 12 invoice hasn’t gone over smoothly with town officials. In a written response to Vandenberg’s invoice, Bettenhausen said the village was surprised by the amount, “as we had not been previously advised such charges existed.” “It would be expected that had such charges arisen, they would have been brought (to) the village’s attention and billed at regular intervals over the course of the contract period, with such billing expected to occur no less than annually,” Bettenhausen said. “No such notice or billing of such charges has occurred” before the bill.

The town denied Trace’s bill and also questioned the accuracy of the charges, saying it could find no record that it had requested the additional service.

On Sept. 5, Vandenberg wrote back to the village reiterating Trace’s demand for payment. Bettenhausen again denied the request, saying Trace has never claimed to have been entitled to any additional compensation for providing backup ambulances. Vandenberg said his company had agreed to “waive” the charge in the past as part of contract negotiations.

The first signs of conflict emerged at a public safety meeting in May, when village officials revealed that the Kurtz bid had come in “significantly” lower than Trace’s.

Vandenberg and Brian Dolan, an executive with Trace’s parent company, attended that meeting and took the uncommon step of warning the village at a public meeting that dropping the company could be risky. Trace served as the village’s ambulance provider since 1979, except for a brief interruption in the 1990s, Vandenberg said at the time.

Vandenberg also said Tinley officials had approached Trace during negotiations for the now-expired deal and asked for cost cuts because of the sluggish economy, which Trace accommodated.

The village’s decision to hire Kurtz, made at a July 1 Village Board meeting, proved controversial. Some residents and Trace employees slammed trustees for dumping a local business that knows the streets.

thanks Dan

Tags: Kurtz Ambulance Service, Tinley Park Fire Department, Tinley Park Treasurer Brad Bettenhausen, Trace Ambulance, Trace President Christopher Vandenberg

Tinley Park changes EMS provider

Jul 3

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 6 Comments

An article in the TribLocal outlines a vote in Tinley Park to change providers for EMS.

Tinley Park trustees voted Tuesday night to drop the village’s longtime ambulance services provider in favor of a new company, a move village officials said would save the village about $800,000 over the life of the contract.

A new agreement, between Kurtz Ambulance Service and Tinley Park, is worth $3,758,531 and lasts four years from Aug. 1 through July 31, 2018. Kurtz will replace Tinley Park’s current provider, Trace Ambulance.

Under the agreement, Tinley Park will see an increase in ambulances dedicated to the village from four to five during peak service hours, Public Safety Chairman Brian Maher said. All ambulances servicing the village will also be required to be equipped with GPS systems.

“We’re getting a more sophisticated system with Kurtz in terms of tracking ambulances,” Maher said, noting that village officials will be able to pull up each ambulance’s location under the new agreement. That capability would not be there with Trace, Maher said.

More than 5,000 emergency calls for service come in to Tinley Park each year, Emergency Management Agency Director Pat Carr has said.

Kurtz Ambulance Service provides ambulance services to 26 different communities around the Chicagoland region, Kurtz COE Tom Vana said. Vana said his company would give hiring preference to paramedics currently working in the village and said it had already received over 40 resumes from locals waiting to see if Kurtz received the contract.

Through its family and management team, Trace has been the town’s ambulance provider since 1979 except for one brief interruption, Trace President Christopher Vandenberg told the village’s Public Safety Committee earlier this year. At that meeting, Vandenberg reminded village officials that the one time Tinley Park went with another company in the 1990s the vendor went bankrupt.

Trace Ambulance is based in Tinley Park.

One woman stood up to question the board’s commitment to local businesses in light of the ambulance contract situation.

“As a board, as a village, we preach shop Tinley Park,” the resident said. “We’re sitting with an ambulance company that has given us great service over the years yet we’re willing to throw that away?”

After the meeting, Maher said the village has a policy that it will select the local vendor in situations where there is a 5 percent difference between proposals. But that was not the case between Kurtz and Trace.

“I can’t justify paying 21 percent more just because the company is here in Tinley,” Maher said.