GARFIELD — A second month of a negative financial balances and a desire to provide the best possible service to area residentsprompted board members of VAS to agree to discuss options to merge VAS Ambulance Service Corporation.

The motion, made by new board member Richard Funk, was approved by the six VAS board ofdirectors members present at the monthly meeting. Chairman Dorothy Williams was not present.

Facing a deficit of $10,656 for February, making the 2010 deficit $22,917, board members expressed a concern about thefinancial trend.

“We’ve got to throw all our personal issues out and think of the people in the district we represent,” Grady Allen, VAS board member, said. “They want an ALS (advanced life support) serviceand we need to do whatever is the most feasible way to provide that service.

“Looking at the bottom line on financials scares me to death,”Allen said.

A letter was also read from a member of the Northeast Benton County Volunteer Fire Department inviting discussion of a merger.

The VAS motion stated: “... that the VAS Ambulance Service Inc. board of directors meet with representatives of the Northeast Benton County Volunteer Fire Department board of directors and the appropriate Benton County elected and non-elected personnel, and representatives from the town of Avoca and the Avoca Fire Department, to discuss the logistical and legal issues of transitioning the responsibility for providing emergency medical services from VAS to NEBCO. Such meeting shall occur within 30 days from passage of this motion.”

The letter from Kara Funk, chairman of the NEBCO board of directors, was read by VAS treasurer Sharon Barnett inviting VAS board members to discuss the transfer of responsibility and designation of Emergency Services District funds from VAS to NEBCO.

“We believe combining the two services will offer the opportunity to provide the best possible emergency medical services for the benefit of our communities,” Mrs. Funk wrote.

Richard Funk said VAS and NEBCO both respond to 911 calls in the area, each backing up the other department, and that it is a natural relationship.

“I feel very strongly about this. We are not going to leave our people uncovered,” Funk said.

Although there was no vote against the motion, Cris Henry, board member, said he and Richard Wynne, operations manager, believed that VAS could upgrade to an ALS service less expensively than once believed.

The board asked Funk to arrange the meeting.

News, Pages 1 on 03/17/2010