The main obstacle AMR has experienced so far is occupying
the space they have leased in Parkville at the Bell Road Industrial Park from which to base their
operations. AMR briefly moved in before learning of a requirement to obtain a
conditional use permit from the City of Parkville.
Intending to stage living quarters on the property for their paramedic teams
overnight and store their ambulances, the intended use does not meet the
approved zoning. Until the permit is issued, AMR cannot occupy the space and
has been staging their units out of the nearest overnight venue available,
which a motel outside and north of the district off Prairie View Road, near Barry Road.
“Right now that is the biggest culprit,” board president
Bobby Kincaid said.
Parkville Acting City Administrator Sean Ackerson says the
property owner has submitted an application for a conditional use permit to
allow dwelling units within an industrial zone and that a hearing is scheduled.
“They are wanting to move into the Bell Road Industrial Park, which is predominantly
zoned industrial,” Ackerson said. “Per municipal code they need a conditional
use permit for the use, particularly the living quarters. I’d describe their
use as fire department-like in that they have both habitable space as well as
the garage function.”
The hearing on the permit will be held October 30th.
If action is taken, it would then go to the board of aldermen for final
approval on November 6th. Hendry said the proximity to the
intersection of Highway 45 and Highway 9 in Parkville is most ideal, but would
be open to all options if an arrangement could not be reached with the landlord
and City of Parkville.
Another topic covered at the meeting was response times,
which was one of the main factors in switching ambulance providers in the first
place. Hendry provided a report to the board of all emergency calls and
responses placed in the month of October. Kincaid expressed concern over some
complaints he had personally received about response times, but those were
cleared up by how the data is measured. Hendry noted that meeting the nine-minute
average response time in AMR’s contract is based off the time between when a
call is received and an ambulance arrives to the scene, not the time it takes to
respond to the scene and then potentially transport a patient to an emergency
room.
“They’re meeting the response times called for in the
contract. We don’t want to see anyone lose their life due to an ambulanace,
it’s very important to me and the rest of the board,” Kincaid said. “They (AMR)
are going to do everything they can do make sure that happens, where the Fire
Department in the past had not.”
The board also welcomed news of strong cooperation between
AMR and bordering jurisdictions, which had been a particular concern in regards
to the Kansas City Fire Department who previously held the service contract.
AMR is still in negotiations with KCFD and the Northland Regional Ambulance
District (NRAD) for mutual aid assistance should the situation call for it.
