Goleta City Council approves resolution supporting County Fire Department’s bid to provide ambulance services county-wide

GOLETA, Calif. – The City Council of Goleta approved a resolution to support awarding the county-wide ambulance service contract to Santa Barbara County Fire Department in a four to one vote on Feb. 21.

The lone dissenting vote was from Councilmember Stuart Kasdin.

The council's non-binding resolution is available here.

The pending ambulance contract is for seven years with three one-year extensions available to Santa Barbara County's Board of Supervisors.

The current contract for county-wide ambulance service is held by American Medical Response and was extended until March of 2024.

During the public comment section of the Goleta council's meeting on the resolution, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig detailed the timeline of the bidding process and answered questions from Councilmember Kasdin concerning the appeal lodged on Oct. 28, 2022.

Speakers on both sides of the contract decision spoke at the council meeting including a paramedic with AMR explaining the impact of loosing the current contract on his and his coworker's livelihoods.

According to Chief Hartwig, the contract has a total of approximately $144 million in billing potential.

This is the first time in 50 years the contract has gone to public procurement and the deadline for the Board of Supervisor's response to county fire's appeal has been extended to the end of this week.

On Nov. 10, 2022, AMR said in its response to the appeal, "AMR is the better-suited provider and was awarded the contract. None of County Fire’s arguments in its protest is persuasive or legally valid."

For more information on the bids submitted to the County of Santa Barbara's Procurement Office for county-wide ambulance service click here.