Three members of the Fort Wayne City Council and the Allen County Commissioners have been at odds for months over sustaining funding for the Three Rivers Ambulance Authority, or TRAA.
TRAA has long been the primary ambulance service in Allen County. It started as an interlocal agreement between the city and county governments.
However, after the Allen County Commissioners created four fire districts for Allen County communities outside Fort Wayne, much of that workload went to the fire district paramedics.
As a result, many of TRAA’s staff left for those jobs and TRAA now primarily only makes runs in Fort Wayne.
On Thursday, Council Members Russ Jehl, R-2nd; Nathan Hartman, R-3rd; and Scott Myers,R-4th said at a press conference that the Allen County Commissioners still needed to contribute more funding.
“The Commissioners are co-partners of TRAA, make board appointments to TRAA, have a legal responsibility to TRAA and had those responsibilities before the creation of the fire districts,” Jehl said.
The Allen County Commissioners responded in a statement later that day.
“It would be asking residents in unincorporated Allen County to pay for their EMS services as well as the EMS services of those living in Fort Wayne,” the statement said. “This is patently unfair.”
Further in that statement, the commissioners suggested Fort Wayne should use a model it nearly adopted in 2016 that would have its EMS services run through the Fort Wayne Fire Department.
“The Board of Commissioners agrees with assessment by leadership of the Fort Wayne Fire Department eight years ago that a fire department-based model is the most realistic solution to the EMS problem in Fort Wayne,” the statement said.
Commissioners Nelson Peters and Therese Brown doubled down on that assessment Friday, recommending the county terminate the interlocal agreement.
Republican Third District City Councilman Nathan Hartman said that option is on the table, but plans need to be made for that transition now.
“So, right now, if we decide the best path going forward, those things can be brought in slowly and they can be phased over,” Hartman said at Thursday’s press conference. “Whereas if we’re waiting to where we’re not able to respond, then we’re in (a) crisis situation.”
Commissioner Rich Beck said it would not be smart to terminate the interlocal agreement now without a sustainable alternative in place. He said the most sustainable solution would be another local income tax (LIT), but due to the LIT funding the new Allen County Jail and the LIT funding the Allen County Public Library expansion, Beck said that would not be attainable now.
Jehl and his two colleagues from the council said Thursday the commissioners were not participating in talks about the future of TRAA and announced their intent to create a task force made up of county and city leaders to find a sustainable funding solution for TRAA.
Beck agreed with the idea of creating a task force to find a sustainable solution, but he said the commissioners asked the city to participate in one two years ago, but the city said no. A spokesperson for the commissioner said they’ve been working on a possible solution with Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker.
The commissioners said in their statement “at the request of the Mayor, we have been working with the city’s administration to resolve these issues in a pragmatic and cost-efficient manner.”
Jehl, Hartman and Myers said they plan to bring their task force proposal to the Fort Wayne City Council for introduction at their next meeting.
