During their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, April 3 the Board of Seminole County Commissioners approved the calling of a special election for June 13 for voters to approve or reject the question of forming an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) District comprising the boundaries of Seminole County and providing for a method for financial support of said district through a threemill ad valorum tax levy.

During the discussion before their vote on Monday, Stuart B. England, Attorney for Floyd and Driver, PLLC, explained to the commissioners that this is the actual, official calling for an election on June 13. As is typical in this type of action, there will be a resolution that sets out the terms, as well as the actual notice and proclamation, which were both presented to the commissioners to sign.

“This will not exceed 3-mills,” England said of the proposal, “because that is the constitutional support limit for the formation of a 522 District,” He then reiterated that this is to be a county-wide district.

As he has at past meetings, England stressed that the commissioners and everyone else involved needs to get a plan in place, because if the proposition passes on June 13, they will want to roll really quick to the next phase, which is setting it up and getting it operational.

If voters do approve a 522 district, the County Commissioners will appoint a board of trustees with at least 5 members. This board will basically be allowed to do whatever it legally takes to keep the service running.

This was the latest step in an ongoing process that began after a special election in August 2021 changed the way the county’s quarter-cent EMS tax is distributed. This issue was complicated even further after Prague changed their ambulance server. The new service no longer covered a large area of northern Seminole County that includes a section of I-40 that the previous service had. This put additional stress on the other services in the county that offer mutual assistance with each other to cover emergencies outside their normal service areas. This includes Seminole and Wewoka EMS covering their mutual areas, Ada Mercy Hospital, which covers Konawa (although the City of Konawa is currently negotiating a new contract for after the current one expires April1), and Creek Nation EMS, which covers a small portion of Seminole County that includes Cromwell.

City of Seminole Fire Chief Fielding Lucas first presented the idea of a Countywide EMS Service, known as a “522 District,” to the county commissioners in December 2021 during a discussion of possible ways the county responders could better serve the citizens of Seminole County.

A group of representatives from the area responders, including: Fire Chief Lucas; Konawa Fire Chief Tim Coffey; Paul Simpson, COEDD Rural Fire Coordinator for Region 5; and Brian Cook, Chief Operating Officer for Mercy Regional EMS, met with the Commissioners on August 22, 2022, to discuss a number of proposals to offer better coverage of the county, including the possibility of a 522 District. The discussion continued during another meeting on August 29.

During the January 3 Commissioner’s meeting Fire Chief Lucas returned with more detailed information about how a 522 District would allow for a tax of 3 mils to help fund ambulance service within the District.

Lucas explained at that meeting that the EMS services in the county are overwhelmed, with a record number of 3,700 calls in the past year. Just finding quality EMS workers is a challenge, as is finding funds for equipment and other needs. If voters were to approve a 522 District a Board would then be appointed to determine how to spend the funds between the EMS agencies within the county. He noted that is costs, on average, a minimum of $400,000 a year to operate an ambulance for one year. This includes the ambulance itself as well as the personnel and equipment on the ambulance. He added that they have to respond to each call they receive, they don’t have the option of saying no.

The Commissioners voter their approval to move forward on a potential vote during their March 13 meeting. Although they didn’t set a specific date at that time, they did decide to put the item on an agenda in April to begin the actual process, which takes two months, so that it would be possible to schedule the vote for June.

The Board of County Commissioners consists of: Gary Choate, District 1; Tim Porter, District 2; and Keith Jennings, District 3.