Commission approves new EMS building

During their regularly scheduled meeting on August 18, the Hardeman County Commission approved the building of a new EMS building at the corner of Lucy Black Road and Highway 64. The building will house the EMS department as well as a West Bolivar Fire Station.
In the July meeting of the Bolivar City Council, the council approved the city’s portion of the building.
In a split vote of 9-5, the county commission approved the building.
“It is past time that the Hardeman County EMS got a new facility. The current one was out grown over 20 years ago. This facility is the second home for our professional medical employees that work 24 hour shifts,” Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain said. “I am proud that the employees found a way to cut enough funds from their own budget to pay for the new facility without it being a burden on the taxpayers and without cutting any services. We have a new dedicated EMS team and they deserve this new facility.”
In January, Sain took the Bulletin-Times on a tour of the current EMS facility to show the conditions and situations the EMS personnel are dealing with on a daily basis. The ambulances do not fit inside the bay doors and, therefore, have to be parked outside in the weather, oxygen tanks were stored in an outside container due to no space inside, one shower serves all six crew members on duty for each shift, when temperatures are low the ambulances must run or be hooked to a generator because particular medications kept on board must remain at a specific temperature, among many other issues
Sain told commissioners on January 13, during their regular meeting, the new building will carry a price tag of $600,000 to $750,000 and is expected to begin this spring.
“We’ll save an estimated $150,000 a year (through the new schedules). I believe that will support the annual debt of the building,” Sain said.
The savings from the EMS budget came as a result of one EMS member creating a new schedule that reduced overtime pay.
In March, the commission raised concerns regarding not wanting to build the building jointly with the City of Bolivar. During that meeting, a 9-7 vote split the commission regarding approving moving forward with the building.

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