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Explaining the AMR/County Fire ambulance Story By LIAM HIBBERT NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
A multi-million dollar county ambulance supplier bid has been surrounded by controversy for the last year – what do we know? An ongoing contract bid between long-time county ambulance provider AMR and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department has taken a number of controversial turns in recent months. What was originally an exclusive AMR permit was then made into a nonexclusive deal.
Along with the questions around the bid is concern about the fire department’s request for proposal of a fleet of ambulances – before they had won the contract. “They hired an independent expert to craft a request for proposal. AMR beat (the county fire department) by a considerable amount. County Fire and other departments then filed an appeal,” said Andy Caldwell, Executive Director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB) and a News-Press Columnist. “County Fire chiefs write a letter saying “throw out the request for
proposal, invalidate the bid process”... the county did exactly what they asked for. They eliminated the bid, threw out the whole thing, started from scratch. Now, that wall of separation between the Fire Department and county decision makers was blown.” Mr. Caldwell argues that this is one half of the malpractice in the county ambulance case. The fire department lost the bid to AMR, as determined by an independent expert. The department appealed the decision, twice, and lost both times. The Board of Supervisors then took over and gave
themselves power over the ambulance permit. The reasoning behind the Board’s decision is not entirely clear. The county argues it was because of an internal change in opinion around what they valued in the bidding process. “The board of Supervisors ultimately made the decision to not do an exclusive contract. They just weren’t happy with how the RFP process turned out,” county Communications Manager Kelsey Buttitta told the News-Press. “They felt the RFP didn’t properly address their top concerns. When they relooked at the RFP
Student leaders tapped for internships Four students from SB, SLO, Ventura counties selected for Bank of America program
they said ‘this is more valuable to us.’” Whether the decision to change the process and go to a non-exclusive contract – which allowed the fire department to re-enter the bid – was truly influenced by the fire department itself is still unclear. The second part of this dispute is about the premature purchase of ambulances – 35 of them – by the fire department. “The most scandalous part of this – we discovered in late 2022, maybe even mid2022, while AMR was still the winner, and County Fire was still losing, County Fire Please see AMBULANCES on A4
Los Angeles County to suspend cash bail By KENNETH SCHRUPP THE CENTER SQUARE
COURTESY PHOTO
Ernest Righetti High School graduate Carlos Gonzalez, center with mic, is one of four students selected to benefit from an internship with a local non-profit.
By LIAM HIBBERT NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
Four high school students and graduates were selected from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties to participate in an eightweek paid internship through a Bank of America program. The internship program aims to develop the students’ leadership and workforce skills. The internships take place at Girl Scouts of California’s Central Coast and Habitat for Humanity, with a pay of $17 an hour. “One of the biggest things I want to
learn is how to problem-solve and how the non-profit industry is structured. All the networks and how they operate,” said one of the students, Carlos Gonzales. Mr. Gonzales graduated last year from Ernest Righetti High School in Santa Maria. Already a few weeks into the program, he said it had been a great experience. “This program helps set that mode and that kind of knowledge of what it is to become a leader,” said Mr. Gonzales. “Throughout this internship I’ve learned so much on how to become a leader and really figure out my future endeavors.”
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end to get to where he plans to go. He also makes it clear that, more than anyone, his mom has been a crucial person to his success. “She’s the person who shaped me and raised me to be the person who I am today. She immigrated here from Mexico and she had nothing,” said Mr. Gonzales. The four students will wrap their internships up in the next few weeks before moving onto their next challenge. As for Mr. Gonzales, he plans to attend UC Berkeley this Fall. email: lhibbert@newspress.com
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Mr. Gonzales has become heavily involved in work around his community in Santa Maria. Last school year he helped create a scholarship program for Latino students at his high school to go towards college, which was awarded to two people. “I’m really passionate about helping out the Latinx community,” said Mr. Gonzales. “This year I proposed this scholarship idea to the Latinos Unidos group, and it took a little convincing, but they approved it.” Like the other students awarded the Tri-County scholarship, Mr. Gonzales has had to do a lot of work on his own
(The Center Square) – After a May injunction suspending cash bail for two months for those accused of non-violent crimes in Los Angeles County due to “dismal” pre-trial detention conditions, the county has moved forward with ending cash bail for most crimes beginning on Oct. 1. Assault, stalking, domestic battery and violation of a protective order will still require cash bail, while human trafficking, battery on a peace officer and sex with a minor will trigger judicial review. “Any determination of an arrestee’s status after arrest but before being charged should be based on an individualized determination of risk and likelihood to return to court,” said L.A. County Presiding Judge Samantha Jessner. “A low-risk arrestee should not be held in jail simply because they cannot post the necessary funds to be released pending arraignment.” Immediate past L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva shared his disagreement with the decision, noting the probation department already lacks the staff it needs to complete its regular duties, and that adding supervision of zero-bail alleged criminals would completely destroy the department’s ability to function. To combat the potential that individuals will use this policy to commit more crimes, defendants who are out on either parole or free before their trials are caught committing crimes will go before judges instead of being automatically released without bail again. According to Sheriff Villaneuva, a lack of real-time data shared across the county’s over 50 law enforcement departments means this is impossible and would increase crime. “You can get arrested in Pomona for a felony, you’re caught and released, cited out, and get arrested in Pacoima, and you’d be out again, because there’s no method of knowing who has been cited where.” While the Superior Court of Los Angeles County used a study finding eliminating pre-trial detention decreases rearrests for misdemeanors by 5.8% and felonies by 2.8% to justify its decision, data from other counties suggests this finding is highly unlikely. According to the Yolo County District Attorney, while zero-bail policies were in effect from April 2020 through June 1, 2021, 71% of those arrested were rearrested during that time frame, while 29% of those rearrested were arrested for violent crimes.
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Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 5-10-20-22-32 Mega: 1
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 2-8-4-1
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 19-22-31-37-54 Mega: 18
Thursday’s FANTASY 5: 7-14-27-36-39
Thursday’s DAILY DERBY: 06-05-01 Time: 1:42.18
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 7-10-11-13-24 Meganumber: 24
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 7-8-9 / Midday 5-8-3