At a special called meeting on Tuesday, the Russellville City Council voted to approve a new ambulance ordinance that will offer more security and reliability for the citizens of Russellville.

The issue of having a set ordinance for the city and guidelines for ambulance service providers to abide by came up at the last council meeting when council members were informed that NorthStar EMS would be closing their Russellville office on Nov. 28.

After that decision was made, officials with Transcare EMS, an ambulance service provider based in Corinth, Miss., said they would be willing to step in and fill the rotation NorthStar currently shares in the city with Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service.

“The city doesn’t currently have an ordinance preventing our citizens to be left without an ambulance service or specifying the quality of services that should be provided,” Fire Chief Joe Mansell said. “This just seemed like the best time to address this issue with one service leaving and another one looking to come in. This way, everyone is on the same page and if the service coming in can’t comply with the ordinance, they can know about it up front before getting a business license.”

Gary Bradford, a representative of Transcare EMS, said he had looked over the ordinance and his company should be able to work within the guidelines specified.

“We didn’t have any issues with it whatsoever,” he said.

A committee consisting of representatives from the Russellville fire and police departments, the county’s 911 board, county volunteer fire departments and the city council drafted the ordinance and each department represented looked it over and agreed the intent of what the ordinance specified was what the city needed.

Some provisions specified in the ordinance include what requirements ambulance service personnel should have, the level of equipment that must be maintained, and that the ambulance service provider’s base of operations should be located inside the city limits.

“Before now, ambulance providers in the city operated under the 911 board’s guidelines and recommendations,” 911 board president John James said. “This ordinance will just give us some direction and make sure everyone is operating under the same rules.”

After a recess to clarify some of the language contained in the original draft of the ordinance, the ordinance was approved.

Council members also approved a business license for Transcare EMS and authorized them to officially enter the rotation as an ambulance service provider along with Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service effective at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 28.