Taking a page from the cola wars and the fast-food restaurant wars, two emergency medical service and care providers vied for a contract with the city of Bullard at the Bullard City Council meeting Tuesday, Dec. 8, at Bullard City Hall.

Following pitches from Trinity Mother Frances Champions EMS and East Texas Medical Center EMS, the Bullard City Council will announce the winner of the contract at the January meeting.

Arnie Spiers, director of the Champion EMS and Fight for Life said his company will provide an ambulance that will stay in Bullard. Spiers said he has talked with the Bullard Fire Department regarding renting a building for an ambulance.

Bullard does not have an ambulance within the city limits.

“The obvious benefit to our citizens would be the reduced response time,” said Pam Frederick, council member.

However, Mayor Pro Tem Stacey Thompson asked about a backup procedure if the ambulance in Bullard was busy. Spiers said the next available ambulance would have to come from Overton, with a response time of about 25 minutes. Spiers also said they have enough ambulances to provide serv- ice for all of the communities contracted with his company.

According to Spiers, Champions would bring on-scene emergency room quality service and equipment, supplies, would “partner with the community to education them on CPR” and other training, provide a landing zone class and provide help to the local volunteer fire department.

“We would bring to you in the field what you would normally see in the emergency room,” Spiers said.

Spiers also said Champions’ rates are higher than ETMC EMS’s but their subscription rate would be less costly and that there would be no outof pocket cost.

Ron Schwartz, general manager of ETMC EMS, gave the presentation for ETMC EMS, which wants to bring an ambulance to Bullard “in order to be proactive.” ETMC already has a presence with medical facilities in Bullard and the area, he said.

According to Schwartz, ETMC EMS executes contracts in areas and establishes independent medical control boards in the communities. He said the boards work with the system’s medical director to provide standard care with the same protocols throughout ETMC EMS’s service area.

Schwartz said ETMC assures quality with a monitoring system, provides award-winning service, gives patients their choice of hospitals and maintains a system of rate protection that includes annual reviews.

Like Champion, ETMC would provide an ambulance to remain in Bullard. Also, ETMC provides a membership and residents can subscribe via their monthly water bill. According to Schwartz, ETMC deploys ambulances in zones and 90 percent of the time they can respond to calls in under nine minutes.

In other business, the council approved appointing Scott Nelson and Hayden Ray to the Bullard Economic Development Corp. Member also approved the reappointment of Clay Thompson, Steve Shaddox and Shirley Coe to BEDCO; tabled consideration of a contract with Hugh Goodpasture for the audit for fiscal year ending September 2009; approved Acme’s bid to provide the material for the repair of the city’s 10 worst manholes; appointed Bullard City Manager Larry Morgan a signatory on the JAG grant; approved payment to Capco Engineering of $1,600 for storm sewer pipe; and dropped a resolution casting a vote for the board of directors for the Cherokee County Appraisal District.