Montcalm Studying Private Ambulance Service

STANTON —By the narrow margin of one vote on May 26, Montcalm County commissioners approved a request of a Citizens Privatization Committee to study the county's ambulance service.

The study will cost up to $11,000 and will be conducted by Canfield and Associates. The consulting firm will analyze the current county-provided service and explore the cost and feasibility of privatizing it. A dispute has arisen in the past over whether two previous private bids would actually have realized a savings or not. The vote to approve the study was 6 to 5.