La Salle votes to terminate agreement with Paramedic Services of Illinois

The La Salle City Council ended its agreement with Paramedic Services of Illinois, Inc. and will begin formal negotiations with Stark County Ambulance.

Alderman Tom Ptak said La Salle came up with the idea to change services because of an ongoing staffing issue with Paramedic Services of Illinois.

“They’re supposed to supply us with six medics and they’re down to two,” he said. “So our staff is scrambling.”

Finance Director John Duncan discussed the current staffing situation in regard to the paramedics.

“Our current contract calls for two employees to work per shift,” he said. “And they work 24-48 scheduled, so to be fully staffed they’d be at six people. We had one person leave on a work comp injury and then we’ve had two leave to take other jobs.”

Duncan said the remaining three were putting in 24-48 hour shifts or 48 hours straight and then had 24 hours off – leading one to leave.

“So, at this point we are down to two people,” he said. “I would just like to acknowledge the hard work and effort and the changes to their own personal schedule that these remaining two employees have made to have a staff.”

The council unanimously voted to execute cancellation of the contract with a six month notice as there is a six month clause in the contract stipulating that either side needs to give notice.

“I feel like this is the first step in a long-term solution,” Alderman Joe Jeppson said.

Mayor Jeff Grove said he believes the city never had an unsafe staffing situation, because it had the two to three individuals willing, but the situation was unheard of.

“No matter where you work, like the police, we have mutual help,” he said. “We can Peru, Spring Valley, we can call Oglesby. I was surprised PSI didn’t send people from other facilities that they staff to come help.”

Grove said at no point in time was there a problem with 911, the only area that may have suffered was the transfers from one hospital to another, but if La Salle couldn’t do it another ambulance service would.

“But again, transfers are an important part of supporting the whole ambulance service,” he said. “As far as you take care of our customers as well as financially.”

He said he had numerous conversations with PSI, so the company was not blindsided by the decision to terminate the agreement. He also said the two individuals will not lose their jobs with PSI, the company has already committed to moving them somewhere else if they wish.

La Salle already has a contract with Stark for its hospital transfers, Ptak said. Stark has a contact with OSF and handles transfers for the hospital chain.

According to an email from Stark, the company is looking for $735,904 annually to staff six paramedics.

In the four year contract with PSI, the city agreed to $640,212 annually for services rendered from May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024, with an increase every year. From May 1, 2025, to April 30, 2026, the city would have paid $675,912.

“They do provide a 911 service to another community,” Ptak said. “So we would be the second community. We feel after meeting with them several times and negotiating with them this is the best situation for the city of La Salle to enter into.”

Ptak said these are the steps to provide better care for the future.

The city still needs to negotiate a contract with Stark County Ambulance to provide supplemental paramedic personnel; no numbers have been finalized.