Supplemental ambulance services in Detroit are up in the air as the city’s firefighter union and some council members press the administration to create a pathway for all runs to be handled in-house.
After a lengthy debate, the council voted 4-3 Tuesday to send a set of three-year contracts to augment ambulance coverage – collectively valued at about $5 million – back to a council committee for further review.
“I am uncomfortable with these contracts. The city has its own ambulance department, and then we have all these multi-million dollar contracts on standby,” Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway told colleagues. “I won’t be supporting this at all. I believe we need to build from within.”
Detroit Fire Department Second Deputy Commissioner Derek Hillman joined the meeting virtually, along with the fire department’s chief of staff and the city’s head of procurement to address questions and concerns, telling council members that the contracts are “critical” and “pretty standard” to help DFD with peak call times…