City seeks greater control over EMS service

Published 12:32 pm Tuesday, March 10, 2026

The Meridian City Council is looking toward further discussion after hearing from city leaders Tuesday about efforts to seek more control over emergency medical response.

Fire Chief Michael Evans said talks have been ongoing for approximately five months as the city heard proposals from outside EMS companies, talked with Lauderdale County officials and tried to chart the best path forward.

“The biggest problem is accountability,” he said.

Metro Ambulance was originally created as a joint venture between Meridian and Lauderdale County. The city pulled out of the agreement in the 1980s, and the county followed, said Metro Director Kevin Smith. The ambulance service is now a stand-alone government entity that funds itself through money from medical calls.

Metro provides EMS service to Lauderdale County, including inside the city of Meridian, but it does not receive city funding and does not have any contractual agreement with the city. Evans said the plan is to change that.

By creating its own EMS District, the city will be able to offer a contract to Metro and outline terms the ambulance service must meet, Evans said. The city doesn’t plan to ask for anything more than what Metro reports it’s currently doing, he said, but having a contract in place will give city leaders an avenue to address any shortcomings that may come up.

While a contract still has to be drafted, Evans said it will likely include provisions such as operating seven ambulances a day with seven paramedics staffing them, getting to 98% of calls within the agreed upon response times, providing medical training for the fire department and reporting calls and response times to city officials.

“The basic thing we want to do with the contract is hold them accountable,” he said.

Smith said he is willing to work toward a contract with the city, but he can’t agree to terms that can’t be met. Paramedics are in short supply, he said, and keeping one on every truck just isn’t feasible.

“There’s not an ambulance company out there that has a paramedic on every truck,” he said.

Mayor Percy Bland said the city didn’t come up with its plan overnight. It came after talking with county leaders, hospital administrators and others, he said, and hearing their concerns. While the city wants to continue working with Metro, it has a responsibility to Meridian residents to address their concerns.

“We’re trying to keep what we have in place, if we can do that, with Metro,” he said. “But if we can’t, we have got to make some tough decisions to move on.”

While Evans asked the council to vote on creating the EMS District at its next meeting, Councilman Dwayne Davis said he believes more discussion is needed before moving forward. He suggested bringing the issue back up for further discussion at the council’s March 31 work session.

Councilman Dustin Hill said he would also like to get more information about the terms of the contract and what the city’s obligations and liabilities may be if it moves forward with the plan. Emergency medical response is something Evans and Smith deal with every day, he said, but the council has a lot to catch up on.