Portales Fire Department seeks contract with Roosevelt County

The Portales Fire Department on Tuesday requested to enter into a contract with Roosevelt County on providing services outside city limits.

Fire Chief TJ Cathey presented to the commission on why he believes PFD is the best option for providing these services.

“The services we provide are, in my opinion, undeniably important and necessary,” Cathey said.

Last fiscal year, Cathey reported PFD responded to 683 calls outside city limits, which is 19.6% of its total run. It costs the city nearly $384,000 to provide those services outside city limits.

PFD’s current response district covers 308 square miles, which Cathey said expands far beyond city limits.

“There’s no agreement in place,” Cathey said. “I can’t find an agreement between Roosevelt County and the city of Portales for fire and EMS.”

Because of this, Cathey said there could be some doubt as to whether or not they have the authority, without an agreement, to respond outside the city limits.

Councilwoman Veronica Cordova, who was presenting with Cathey, said “It’s not about fighting, we’re not here to fight. We’re just here to give you information.”

Legally, according to Cordova, there needs to be a contract in place for both entities.

Commissioner Tina Dixon discussed how this would be taken care of with the county’s money.

“When we do things with the taxpayer dollars, we have to look at the whole picture,” Dixon said.

“I don’t think the city of Portales, or the county of Roosevelt, either one can handle the brunt of all of this,” Dixon said. “I think we’re going to have to find a way to work together.”

Cathey explained how PFD provides dual roles.

“We don’t just do EMS, we don’t just do fire, we do both,” he said. “It allows for the overall costs whether they’re going out for RFP, for fire and EMS, it’s actually less because I just did a full study on comparing us to the city of Grants.”

Cathey said Grants’ initial agreement with a private ambulance service was about $150,000, “which is super cheap.” The second agreement came in at about $1.5 million.

“There’s no way to make money in EMS the way it used to be,” Cathey said.

Commissioners asked Cathey and Cordova to tell the City Council at its next meeting that something has got to be done in order to move forward with these negotiations.

“We got to have y’all, but y’all got to have us. So, we got to figure something out,” Commissioner Roy Lee Criswell said.