Override could mean legal battle for city

By unanimous vote, city council stuck to its guns, and that means, the battle over the city ambulance contract will rage on.

“This issue is not going to go away on January first,” said Mayor Bob Duffy. “There's going to be litigation and fighting over this, and a very public fight."

Moments after city council overturned the mayor’s veto and awarded Rural/Metro the ambulance contract, an attorney for Monroe Ambulance said they will be suing. She says the city did not follow the proper laws and procedures.

“The request for proposal procedure that's been followed by the city for years was ignored in this situation,” said Sharon Stiller.

Meantime, Mayor Duffy says a court battle could have been avoided if only city council had followed his recommendation. Earlier this year, he formed an executive committee to weigh the ambulance contract, and the committee picked Monroe Ambulance.

“The process was had by some of our best experts,” he said. “Monroe Ambulance won the contract.”

But council members did not see it that way. Councilman Dana Miller says Rural/Metro is better suited to respond to 911 calls.

“We believe that the company that has been chosen has a much better track record in providing ambulance service,” he said. “We believe they understand the city and the city's market."

Duffy says Monroe Ambulance offers quicker response times and new technology, but he’d rather see a resolution that would allow the two companies to co-exist instead of fighting.

“(We’re) going down a path that will pit city employees against city council, that will cost tax payers money unnecessarily and will perhaps be not a good reflection on us as a government,” Duffy said.

The contract Monroe Ambulance was vying for is valued at $15 to $20 million. As of Wednesday, there was no word on when they plan on filing a lawsuit. But, at this time, city residents can expect Rural/Metro to be the service responding to 911 calls.