The Scott County Special Service EMS may be delayed.
According to a press release yesterday from the Scott County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Scott County Commissioners have not received all of the necessary paperwork to enter into a contract with the Winchester EMS.
According to the press release, on June 5th, the commissioners approved the awarding of the lone bid on the special service area to Winchester EMS. Upon approval of that bid, the commissioners instructed Winchester EMS that they needed to supply the commissioners with a completed audit and certified financial statements. As per the release, the commissioners have not received an audit.
Disbursement of tax money was slated to begin on September 1st but a contract has not yet been entered into by both parties.
The release says that once the commissioners receive and approve the audit, contract negotiations between them and the Winchester EMS group would commence. Only after an approval of the contract can disbursement take place.
Winchester EMS Randy Dolen says the county’s auditor has been delayed in getting the audit completed: “I talked with one of the commissioners on Wednesday. We are working with and they recommended and are requiring us to use their auditor. Their auditor has been in the process of trying to talk with them and figure out which way to go about doing this, because this is new according to her. We are working with the auditor to get it done.”
Dolen says everything is progressing, albeit a bit slowly, but all of the correct paperwork should be completed as soon as possible. He says despite the delays in getting the contract signed, Scott County residents won’t have to worry about emergency services stopping: “As long as we are making progress, things are going to continue like they are. It’s just a matter of getting everything worked out.”
Dolen says he is unsure why the press release was issued because everything is progressing as it should be and should be wrapped up soon.