During a Morrow County Board of Commissioners meeting in Irrigon Wednesday, Feb. 21, the intensity of emotions around the county’s ambulance service conflict seeped into a discussion about a funding request for Morrow County Health District’s primary care clinics.
The health district, which offers many services beyond its ambulance provision, requested $800,000 from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act coronavirus recovery funds.
By the end of the discussion, the county commissioners had decided to request further information about the district’s costs before making a decision.
Funds available
In her presentation to the board, Nicole Mahoney, the health district’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer for 26 years, explained that a fourth of the funds would be allocated to each of four clinics run by the district — Pioneer Memorial Clinic, Irrigon Medical Clinic, Boardman Immediate Care and Pioneer Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Room.
Kevin Ince, the county’s finance director, told the board that the request fits the guidelines of the fund and would not require particular effort to oversee.
Mahoney, when describing the request and before answering questions, asked the commissioners to “set aside your differences with the district” over ambulance services. There is an ongoing disagreement between the entities that has led to strife among residents in the county.
Other federal funding ended last year, Mahoney said, and costs are increasing while revenue shrinks.
“In the entire time that I’ve been the CFO, we have not once come to the county for operating support,” she said. “At this point, we don’t have another source to ask and we know you have $2.2 million to allocate to this specific purpose.”
Ince confirmed the county has $2.2 million uncommitted American Rescue Plan Act funds.
No avoiding the elephant
Commissioner Jeff Wenholz said from what he has seen, the health district’s yearly revenue has increased, except for so far this fiscal year. He wondered what happened this year when their public, audited statements don’t show a decrease in business before the last six months.
Mahoney said looking at the numbers doesn’t reflect the increased costs and the loss of funding. She said the health district is considering ways to streamline costs, which should help in future years, but for now they need fiscal support.
“The ambulance is a money loser, isn’t it?,” asked Commissioner David Sykes. “What if you were to shed some of that?”
“I asked you to consider this on its own merit,” Mahoney responded after outcry from the audience. “Now you’re going to try to hold this money hostage over the EMS situation.”
Sykes responded, “No, I don’t want to do that at all. … Our position is we would like you to keep doing it for 90 days until the ASA is back from Oregon Health (Authority) and then we can negotiate a five-year contract with you.”
At his comments, attendees spoke out again, saying the commissioners were attempting to blackmail the health district. Sykes asked people not to gang up or speak out.
Wenholz then asked about getting a more detailed account of spending and what is owed to which vendors. After some tense discussion about why, exactly, he wanted it when other applicants for the funding hadn’t been required to provide that information, Mahoney agreed to provide a vendor summary.
In the end, the commissioners voted to table the discussion and decision until after the health district provides the summary.
Adding a new dispute to the list
Before the commissioners voted on whether to approve the funding, Wenholz raised the concern that future ambulance services will need to be subsidized to some extent.
The health district has previously made it clear that it wants the county to help cover its losses due to ambulance provision, and even in the interim, he pointed out, Boardman Fire needs support from the county to cover costs.
“Especially in the short term, when it hasn’t been budgeted for,” Wenholz said, “I say the ARPA money is going to probably be the source to pay for ambulance services, and that is the one pot of money that we have to go to, to provide for ambulance services for the county.”
It is not clear at this time whether the county can, in fact, use American Rescue Plan Act COVID relief funds for that purpose.
Emily Roberts, CEO of the health district, said she does not believe the funds can be used that way.
“That money was intended for COVID relief. That’s the spirit in which we’re requesting it,” she said. “It has nothing to do with EMS. And trying to blackmail us with those funds is wrong. And everybody heard it happen.”
While Morrow County Administrator Matt Jensen does believe that the justification for the request is “clearly related to the clinics,” and not the ambulance services, he said he can understand why the commissioners made the connection.
“With the emotions, sitting through the public hearing, it’s easy to say, ‘Well, if we cut back on the ambulance, then you’d have some additional money to put towards clinics,’” he said. “I think that’s a natural venue for the commissioners to consider, especially after the beating they took during the public comment section.”
Once they look at the request with the vendor summary, he said, he expects they will look at it “in full faith,” meaning regardless of what the relationship is with the health district and its ambulance services.
The heated nature of the meeting on Wednesday shows the tense relationship between the county and the health district is not limited to discussions of the ambulance service area plan.
If Boardman fire district would keep their nose out ambulance service none of this would have happened. That’s when it all started because they see money coming in for Boardman fire. We have a good fire and rescue department and it should stay that way. Now everyone is up in arms because we may loose the best ambulance service in area. Commissioners get off your butt and think of the people of Morrow county for a change.