By contracting directly for fire, law enforcement, and EMS services, the local municipality can work to increase service levels where necessary and ensure better staging of services (placement of parked emergency vehicles) for faster response times.

Because of our remote location, it can easily take 45 minutes to an hour for an ambulance to arrive and then another 30-40 minutes for the return trip. When every second is precious time, there is no room for delay. The community has locations where emergency vehicles can be staged, and local residents have pressed this issue many times with our county officials, but with little change. As a municipality, the local voice becomes much stronger and unified through the town leadership, making these types of conversations more productive.

The town manager would administer emergency service contracts and has various options at their disposal to properly stage emergency vehicles. Having a local voice and a seat at the table could very much help make Perdido a safer place.