Bryan/College Station Emergency Response Services

10,191 Views | 91 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by FamousAgg
Vinewood_03
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In light of the COCS pursuit of a unnecessary sewer line through an established Bryan neighborhood, now they're threating to withhold Ambulance response services to Bryan?
MyNameIsJeff
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AG
Where did you see/hear this?

I know they have an agreement for mutual aid. I've seen the chief's presentations that this overwhelmingly benefits Bryan due to proximity of CS's stations to the city limits, but I believe they reconcile financially at the end of each year.

I can't imagine them doing that.
OceanStateAg
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AG
There was Bryan Council meeting on this earlier today.

Per the presentation the CS fire chief made to the CS council a few weeks ago, Bryan owes CS a pretty good chunk of change for answering calls in Bryan. Something like $350-$400k, if my memory serves me right.
rockelle
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Special meeting of Bryan city council discussing it today. Rolled by it on ch.16, but it was a lot of presentations.

Sounded like usual COCS business, wanting to overcharge Bryan for services. College Station built their Taj Mahal of fire stations as close to Bryan as possible and now complaining about calls into Bryan.

Well presented by some of the Bryan FD folks and the council. This is a bit more complicated than a drive by post here as they got in the weeds about charges and billing. Some quick notes but I didn't have time to watch all of it:

There was an Interlocal Agreement between the cities since 1997 until 2023. At the beginning of 2023, CS unilaterally rescinded the agreement and wants a new deal. Back in 2012, CS built station 6 on University and Tarrow- 1000 yards from Bryan, within 2 miles of Bryan FD#2. Naturally, CSFD responds to calls in Bryan from that station since it's so close.

The agreement was that closest "rig"/truck/ambulance took the call no matter what city. Bryan FD took a ton of calls thru the years to Northgate in CS. Chief Mann from CSFD provided some numbers in his presentation to CS Council that were criticized and shown to be skewed regarding EMS calls and billing. Under the agreement Bryan does not owe $ to CS. there are some write-offs that both cities incur in EMS calls and rides.

Seemed like Bryan was emphasizing life and safety over EMS billing disputes.

AggieBaseball06
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AG
rockelle said:

Special meeting of Bryan city council discussing it today. Rolled by it on ch.16, but it was a lot of presentations.

Sounded like usual COCS business, wanting to overcharge Bryan for services. College Station built their Taj Mahal of fire stations as close to Bryan as possible and now complaining about calls into Bryan.

Well presented by some of the Bryan FD folks and the council. This is a bit more complicated than a drive by post here as they got in the weeds about charges and billing. Some quick notes but I didn't have time to watch all of it:

There was an Interlocal Agreement between the cities since 1997 until 2023. At the beginning of 2023, CS unilaterally rescinded the agreement and wants a new deal. Back in 2012, CS built station 6 on University and Tarrow- 1000 yards from Bryan, within 2 miles of Bryan FD#2. Naturally, CSFD responds to calls in Bryan from that station since it's so close.

The agreement was that closest "rig"/truck/ambulance took the call no matter what city. Bryan FD took a ton of calls thru the years to Northgate in CS. Chief Mann from CSFD provided some numbers in his presentation to CS Council that were criticized and shown to be skewed regarding EMS calls and billing. Under the agreement Bryan does not owe $ to CS. there are some write-offs that both cities incur in EMS calls and rides.

Seemed like Bryan was emphasizing life and safety over EMS billing disputes.




So the city that would end up owing several hundred thousand dollars doesn't want it to be about the money?
rockelle
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AggieBaseball06 said:




So the city that would end up owing several hundred thousand dollars doesn't want it to be about the money?
No - it sounded like Bryan was confident no money was owed, and that the CSFD was using funny numbers and full billing rates for EMS which aren't collectible.

But if you want to be smarmy, do you want emergency personnel to respond to an emergency at your home based on a billing agreement, or based on who can get there the fastest and help?
AggieBaseball06
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AG
rockelle said:

AggieBaseball06 said:




So the city that would end up owing several hundred thousand dollars doesn't want it to be about the money?
No - it sounded like Bryan was confident no money was owed, and that the CSFD was using funny numbers and full billing rates for EMS which aren't collectible.

But if you want to be smarmy, do you want emergency personnel to respond to an emergency at your home based on a billing agreement, or based on who can get there the fastest and help?


As a resident of the B/CS area, I want the two communities to work together to best serve all of our neighbors.

As a citizen of CS, I don't want to foot the bill for services provided to Bryan residents. That's why each city collects taxes.

According to the Chief of CSFD, it appears there are some possible discrepancies that should be looked into more.

So I think it's a great idea that the fire departments work together. In 2022, I experienced an issue that required a 911 call in Bryan and I was thankful at how quickly both CSFD and BFD responded.

But I also believe in fiscal responsibility.
UmustBKidding
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Just wait until they have the unified 911 PSAP. Of course it there should have always only been one but COCS has always held that they knew how to do it and Bryan/Brazos county did not. I expect it will not be pretty.
Back in the day Fire Station 1 in front of city hall handled the north border responses. But they wanted a bigger location and to not have to deal with Texas Ave traffic. So instead of expanding station one or relocating it to where 6 is today, they decided to use land they still owned after the failed wolf pen swamp and drainage ditch project and because "College Station is only growing south and that site will be sufficient to cover the area handled by the existing station". They then build it and are unable to use it because of improper slab preparation until it could be remediated. Of course only a few years go by and its pretty obvious that additional coverage was needed along University that the replacement stations could not adequately cover.
Had a discussion with a person involved in sighting station six. He talked about a discussions during the process about a incident that during a statewide meeting of municipal agencies meeting at the Hilton a fire alarm was tripped. The first units on site were Red trucks not Blue & White. They were told that the site would have to make sure that such an incident could never occur again. So station 6 location was ordained. Of course today it would likely be better to have more local coverage with high elevation capability in north gate.
PS3D
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[We are not going to allow that type of trolling on this forum. -Staff]
BluHorseShu
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AG
[Same message. -Staff]
Marooned_n_Aggieland
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Maybe Bryan can get the government to give them grants to build new fire stations and put a Brazos Transit stop alongside the curb and claim it is for community mobility.
Scruffy
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AG
They just need to do what Nashville and the surrounding towns/cities did and merge into a metro with combined services.
PS3D
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Scruffy said:

They just need to do what Nashville and the surrounding towns/cities did and merge into a metro with combined services.


Too many egos at the top to make it happen, even if they combined fire/emergency services and nothing else.
FamousAgg
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And neither department seems to be able to adequately hire firefighters… both are hurting for people
mr83tr88
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AG
Speaking of CSFD, Scott and White Convenient Care called an ambulance to transport my husband to SW hospital in CS. We were shocked to get a bill from CSFD for hundreds of dollars! I thought our property taxes and other fees, etc. covered those expenses.
iisanaggie
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AG
mr83tr88 said:

Speaking of CSFD, Scott and White Convenient Care called an ambulance to transport my husband to SW hospital in CS. We were shocked to get a bill from CSFD for hundreds of dollars! I thought our property taxes and other fees, etc. covered those expenses.


I don't know of any FD or ambulance service that doesn't charge for transport. It can be over $1000 in some places in Texas.
turfman80
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AG
Be glad they didn't call City Ambulance Service. CapRock used them to transport my wife (fractured pelvis) over to St. Joseph's Rehab for their in house rehab treatments. A nice, leisurely drive of the three miles or so. Hit with a $2500 bill AFTER our Blue Cross insurance paid their portion.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothing is a real cool hand
SAC4311
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I suppose it doesn't matter if Bryan pays what College Station thinks they're owed or not. Regardless the closest CSFD ambulance will be responding to your medical emergencies wherever you are within both cities!
FamousAgg
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BFD and CSFD also cover medical calls in the country which is even more of a burden, that could mean a medic 20 minutes out of the city and then having to treat and transport at patient to their hospital of choice it it's not an immediate threat. So you could bring someone from south college station to St Joes or from Edge to Scott and White.
FamousAgg
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https://www.kbtx.com/2023/03/03/bryan-college-station-fire-departments-odds-over-ambulance-service/
AggiePhil
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AG
Perhaps we need a private ambulance service to handle 911 calls across the entire region, not firefighters on ambulances.
Roxie146
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The Eagle did say that CoCS "city staff requested terminating the Automtic Mutual Aid Agreement in January".

And rumor has it that there is an Interlocal agreement being bandied about from the CoCS that the CoB is not happy about.

The 4 to 1 discrepancy in dispatched EMS to CoB is "due to the location of College Sation Fire Station #6 which is close to the cities' border"

So perhaps CoCS did not adequately "design" its emergency services to adequately address the needs of their own city by putting a fire station that would better address the CoB needs vs the needs of its own citizens.

HMMMM - another not so good decision by the CoCS planners.

Maybe CoCS is getting too big - it can't provide sewer or water or electricity without another city's help.

Sewer through Bryan, BTU providing electricity, Water lines via West Bryan using eminent domain through Bryan tax payers land........
FamousAgg
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Emergency services are one of the few instances that I don't believe the private sector will do better/cheaper than local government
woodiewood1
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I didnt see threatening to withhold services but to get paid for it. The more COCS services those Bryan areas close to college station the less need for bryan to add new services in the area.
AggiePhil
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AG
I'd say it depends. When I lived in Tyler, 911 was done by ETMC EMS. They did a fantastic job. When I lived in Abilene, 911 was done by MetroCare EMS. Again, a very high-standard operation. Not saying the FDs here don't do a great job-they do. But there are alternative solutions available.
Vinewood_03
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The Automatic Mutual Aid Agreement terminates on March 10th if not jointly approved. Which means Station 6 wouldn't respond with ambulance services to a car wreck at 29th and Rosemary (example). Feels pretty threating to me...

This is like your neighbor setting up a sprinkler head on your shared property line but then wanting you to pay for the portion of their water that landed on your yard.

Its about dollars & cents, sure. But, its also about being a good neighbor. COCS went and built the nicest Firehouse known to man a few 100 yards from Bryan's city limits with the knowledge of the existing agreement - what did they expect? Massive development at Century Square and Northgate but proper infrastructure wasn't at the forefront, so now they'll bore through a Bryan neighborhood to no added benefit to the residents of Bryan - what did they expect?

This is about the COCS City Council attempting to strong arm Bryan. Period.
Bryanisbest
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AG
Is this CS retaliation against Bryan for bucking them on the Beverley Estates sewage line issue?
FamousAgg
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This issue has been brewing for quite a while. I have been hearing about it for at least a year or two. But it does raise the question as to why all of the sudden is this a time critical problem
SAC4311
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Are you suggesting that the 4 to 1 discrepancy is solely because College Station has a Station close to the Bryan city limits? There is only one ambulance at that station, I doubt that single ambulance responds to 4 Bryan calls for every 1 that ANY of their ambulances respond to in College Station. The problem is much more wide spread, Station 6 is just an easy scape goat.
SAC4311
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I see your point of view but I get a different take away. College Station built a fire station close to the City line, yes. However the station, ambulance, and personnel are all paid for by City of College Station tax payers. If their ambulances are constantly running into the City of Bryan who would be left to service College Station?

Ultimately it really comes down to a lack of resources from both departments to keep upbwith modern call volumes. All of this current "new drama" seems to me to be the City of Bryan fighting against changing the Auto aid arrangement because they don't want to acknowledge that they dropped the ball on expanding their own FD services and adding more ambulances duebto relying on Station 6 and the other CSFD ambulances.
AggiePhil
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Roxie146
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I'm not saying it -

Direct quote - The Eagle - 3/3/2023 - from Fire Chief Ricard Mann, College Station: ",,further explained the need for a new agreement because of a 4-to-1 discrepancy in dispatched EMS calls into Bryan. Capener (DJ Capener, assistant chief of EMS for BFD)said he believed the reasoning for the discrepancy is due to the location of College Station Fire Station #6 which is close to the cities' border. "
Roxie146
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Had College Station completed an appropriate study - they would have realized that calls closest to an available Fire Station would result in the call out of that fire station first.

Of course, calls near the Station 6 Fire Station would result in answered calls closest to them regardless of city boundaries.

The unintended consequences of locating the Fire Station on the city limit with another city or county would necessarily result in responses to either side of the city limit.

Unless of course, College Station really wants Bryan to burn down. And that train of thought is useless.

As is charging Bryan more for calls than what it does for its own citizens.

If that is indeed what CoCS proposes to do, then what is to prevent Bryan from charging CoCS for every drop of sewer that goes through Bryan to get to the Carter Creek sewer system.

Be careful what you ask for.
BringingChange
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We have to think about what's important for all citizens of both cities. What if you were to have a medical emergency just over the city line into Bryan and instead of taking two minutes for a response, it takes ten now? We have to come together for everyone.
Stupe
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S
Bryanisbest said:

Is this CS retaliation against Bryan for bucking them on the Beverley Estates sewage line issue?
Wanting to get paid what is owed is "retaliation"?
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