Columbia County EMS: Before Columbia County Takes EMS Back, It Owes Its Citizens a Plan
September 12, 2026 8:48 am | 5 min read
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Photo: Camilo Jimenez via Unsplash |
Columbia County Observer graphic
By
Jody DuPree, former Columbia County
Commissioner
Columbia County has purchased ambulances. What it has not produced is a plan.
That should concern every taxpayer in the county, because the last time Columbia County operated its own emergency medical service (EMS), the program was subsidized to the tune of $1.3 million a year — roughly $1.987 million in today's money — and it lacked the supervision, accountability, and compliance with standard operating procedures that a life-and-death service requires.
The question before us is not whether the county is “permitted” to run EMS again. It is whether the county is “prepared” to, and whether anyone has demonstrated what has actually changed since 2011.
What privatization accomplished
When the Board privatized EMS in 2011, the $1.3 million taxpayer subsidy went to zero. For the next 12 years or so, citizens never had to subsidize the EMS program at all. Lifeguard provided excellent service, and Century followed.
I want to be clear about something, because it is often misrepresented: no commissioner serving at that time was glad or happy that EMS was privatized. Everyone of us was focused on two things — providing the best possible emergency service and reducing the subsidy as much as possible. We did both.
I also knew, without reservation, that the Board had made the correct decision the day every window in my vehicle was busted out with a window punch during a board meeting. That was a reflection of the professionalism we were dealing with at the time.
The oversight question no one has answered
When the contract with Columbia EMS was terminated and AmeriPro took over, County Attorney Joel Foreman stated at the meeting that Lance Hill had been instructed that he no longer had to check with anyone else before reporting something as noncompliant.
Read that again. If that instruction had to be given, what was happening before it? Does it mean that while Columbia EMS was the provider, proper oversight and auditing were ignored — or never reported? I went looking for public records showing what reporting was done. I cannot say I found any.
The public deserves better, and it deserves an answer before the county takes on this responsibility again.
The real failure in 2011 was leadership — on both sides
The bottom line is that the old county EMS program lacked proper supervision, accountability, and policy compliance. But I am not laying that entirely at the feet of EMS leadership. County leadership was involved too, from the County Commissioners to the County Manager.
The core problem was that communication and record-keeping were not functioning as required. When those systems fail, you lose the checks and balances on efficiency, liability, and accountability — and you lose the ability to conduct a proper audit. That is how a program quietly becomes a $1.3 million annual obligation.
And that was only part of the operational problem.
Why the timing makes this worse
Something similar is coming to Columbia County when Amendment 3 passes — and it will pass. My estimate of the resulting budget deficit is somewhere between $8 and $9 million. This is not the moment to absorb a major new operating liability without a written plan.
A plan matters even more because the continuity of our existing government is almost nonexistent. Consider the record:
- An administration code that is not in compliance with the charter.
- An organizational chart that complies with neither the charter nor the administration code.
- Failure to follow the charter's financial directives concerning year-end money.
- An attorney's letter advising Planning and Zoning that variances may be issued to a citizen who purchased improperly split property — when the LDRs do not support that opinion, and case law holds that a buyer of noncompliant property has created his own hardship and is not entitled to a variance.
- A utility created with no way out and no plan showing how it serves citizens' best interest.
- Failure to manage staff who signed off on change orders, placing the Board in jeopardy.
- Failure to follow the county Code of Ethics and active pursuit of ways around the rule.
- Failure to follow the policy requiring all internal budget amendments to be approved by the BOCC.
- A lifetime COCPN, which is in no way proper.
If the Board struggles with these things, what would make citizens believe it will do better for them on EMS — especially after already buying ambulances with no plan moving forward?
A different approach: a citizen Public Safety Commission
The way to keep the county from repeating its own history is to establish an independent Columbia County Public Safety Commission under the authority of the County Commission.
The Board retains its legal and budgetary authority. The Public Safety Commission provides independent oversight and makes recommendations based on facts, performance, and long-term planning. Its charge would cover:
- Financial oversight: EMS budgets and expenditures, revenues, billing, and collections.
- Operational oversight: response times, staffing, patient care performance — measured results, not political promises.
- Management accountability and long-term planning, including an instrumental role in building a long-range public safety plan for EMS.
Critically, the Public Safety Commission should be made up of Columbia County citizens. Emergency care should never depend on who holds political influence. Yet the same people who are supposed to represent public safety have been allowed to weave themselves into the political fabric of this community — then, as now. That is the one place they should never exist, under any circumstances.
The standard
The privatizing EMS in 2011 does not mean the county should never operate EMS again. I believe citizens will support an excellent EMS system — county-run or private vendor — as long as their safety is the number one priority and the oversight is unquestionable.
But they should not be asked to support a system simply because someone says, "Government can do it better." We all know that claim is suspect.
Decisions this consequential must rest on public safety, performance, financial responsibility, professional standards, and what is genuinely best for citizens — with no personal agendas.
The people of Columbia County deserve to know how their money is spent and what level of service they are getting, and they deserve the facts investigated and reported so a successful EMS program can last in perpetuity.
Emergency care should never depend on who has political influence.
Jody DuPree is a former County Commissioner; a life-long resident of Columbia County; a licensed contractor.