Decatur discusses AirMedCare enrollment
DECATUR — On Monday, March 11, Decatur council members discussed the possibility of enrolling city employees in AirMedCare, a service that uses helicopters to transport city employees to hospitals during emergency situations.
The city would pay $6,975 for three years, which can cover over 31 city employees and their immediate family members living at their residences.
“If we went with this, it would cover all the city’s full-time employees, plus our volunteer fire department, for three years. The city would pay $6,975,” said city clerk Kim Wilkins.
These services would not be available to any part-time employees or seasonal employees, such as lifeguards.
“This would have helped us out when we had that hurt officer,” said police chief Steven Grizzle. “He had two flights, and one of them cost us $42,001 and the other cost us $49,000.” Grizzle said, “$6,000 is nothing when you look at that.”
If the city decides to enroll in the services, the funds will come from workers’ compensation.
At the end of the discussion, council members decided to hold off voting on the matter until April 15. This would allow them to obtain answers to their questions, such as what hospitals the service would include and what rates their competitors are charging.
OTHER COUNCIL NEWS
The city released a document allowing residents to surrender custody of their animals to Decatur.
Residents are required to contact the Decatur Animal Control Officer and schedule a time and date when the animal will be surrendered. Owners will be responsible for a one-time payment of $100 per animal.
Since the last city council meeting, the police department has issued 133 moving citations and six nonmoving.
The department wrote 194 warnings and served 36 warrants. It conducted 47 misdemeanor arrests, two felony arrests, and three juvenile arrests. It also made 13 drug arrests.
Police Chief Grizzle informed the city the department has the technology to track the speed of vehicles as they travel specific roads and highways.
This software will feed the police unit with data such as the time and speed of vehicles. This technology doesn’t track drivers or vehicle license plates. He said some residents complain to officers about drivers speeding.
He’ll inform them he has the data to prove the speeds with accuracy.