Chip Decker, chief executive officer of the Richmond Ambulance Authority, presented the authority’s emergency medical dispatch (EMD) compliance and call-answer data and described the RAA’s accreditation status and certain budget figures.

Decker said the Richmond Ambulance Authority is an accredited Center of Excellence by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch and described compliance metrics the IAED tracks. He reported that the RAA’s FY2025 total operating expenses were presented at $26,000,000 and that the city subsidy for RAA was listed at $7,100,000 for the current year. Decker told the committee the authority allocates $1,900,000 in its budget to the communications center; he also referenced a line in his presentation indicating the city purchased six “chase cars” with an associated figure of $977,000. The transcript does not specify whether that $977,000 figure represents a single unit cost, a subtotal, or a total purchase amount.

Committee members said the presentation of RAA and Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response (DECPR) data has not been presented as a side-by-side, apples-to-apples comparison the committee requested at earlier meetings. Committee member Sarah Abubakar said the absence of a combined comparative analysis left members unable to make a fair assessment and expressed frustration that the committee had asked for the comparison at more than one prior meeting.

Director Willoughby (Department of Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response) and other staff said DECPR had provided raw data and that they understood the committee’s request was for information; committee members responded that a combined presentation was what they wanted. The transcript records RAA staff saying they are willing to do the comparative calculations if DECPR does not present a combined analysis.

Chair Sherry Trammell directed staff to coordinate the comparative analysis and asked Steve Taylor to coordinate between RAA and DECPR. Committee members set a two-week deadline to gather and confirm the data before the next committee meeting and asked staff to return with an apples-to-apples comparison. The committee did not take a formal vote on this directive during the recorded portion of the meeting; the action appears in the transcript as an instruction from the chair and a staff commitment to coordinate.