STARKVILLE – The city is planning to renew its contract with Pafford EMS for ambulance service, which will leave Starkville and Oktibbeha County served by two different providers.

The city does not pay Pafford in exchange for its services, and Pafford is requesting no changes to its most recent contract with the city, which expired last month.

Pafford provides two ambulances with around the clock service in the city limits in exchange for the use of Fire Station 3 and 4. Pafford is currently paying the utility bill for Fire Station 3 since the fire department moved service out of the station.

“We appreciate your partnership,” Spruill told Pafford representatives during the board of aldermen work session Friday at City Hall. “… I think we are well served.”

The board is set to approve the contract renewal at its Tuesday meeting. It cannot pass on the consent agenda without discussion because Ward 4 Alderman Mike Brooks must recuse himself from the vote since he flies aircraft for Pafford.

Baptist announced Aug. 21 it would use Priority Ambulance to service Baptist Memorial Hospital-Oktibbeha County (formerly OCH Regional Medical Center). Priority will respond to calls in the county that are outside Starkville city limits.

The city did not consider contracting with another ambulance service, Spruill said, although she previously acknowledged to The Dispatch that E-911 personnel believe a unified EMS service may make emergency response “smoother and easier.”

On Friday, she asked Fire Chief Dewayne Davis if he was aware of any issues related to the city and the county’s different systems or if he predicted any future problems.

Davis said he was not aware of any current or future problems.

Freddie Parker, Pafford’s chief operations officer, told the board in addition to the required ambulances, Starkville is occasionally serviced by a floater, typically based in Pheba, that picks up slack in all of its nearby service areas including Clay, Webster and Choctaw counties.

Pafford is contractually obligated to respond to 90% of calls within 10 minutes, a commitment Parker said it has had no issues upholding. In 2025, Pafford averaged about 27 seconds per response from January through September and slightly more than one minute during the final quarter of the year, while responding to 3,476 total calls.

In addition to providing ambulance service to the city Pafford provides Emergency Medical Technician training to the fire department out of Fire Station 1. Davis told the board during Friday’s work session, the trainings are usually well attended, with the most reason session seeing 100% attendance.

Rob Fisher, Pafford’s education director, told the board the training allows for continuity in medical care throughout the city services and allows Pafford to hire trained fire fighters to work as EMTs part-time to support its service.

“That’s one of the reasons it’s such a good deal.” Spruill told the Dispatch. “… I think it’s a win-win.”