New Chapel: EMS service "remains unimpeded" amid Noel investigation

Aug. 21—SOUTHERN INDIANA — Representatives of New Chapel EMS say operations have continued without disruption in the past week, but local officials are considering contingency plans for EMS services amid the investigation into Jamey Noel, the agency's co-founder.

Last Wednesday, the Indiana State Police executed search warrants at Noel's home in Jeffersonville as part of an ongoing investigation. Noel is the former Clark County Sheriff, and he is the chair of the Clark County Republican Party and the Indiana 9th District GOP.

Investigators also served search warrants at several New Chapel properties on Wednesday, New Chapel Assistant Chief Matt Owen confirmed to the News and Tribune on Monday.

Owen said the investigation into Noel has "not had any effect" on the operations.

"We've never had any lapse in our operations through the events of last week, and we don't anticipate there to be a problem moving forward," he said.

New Chapel EMS serves Clark County for EMS services, and it serves all of Floyd County outside the City of New Albany. The private contractor also offers fire protection for the New Albany Township Fire District and the Utica Township Fire District.

ISP Capt. Ron Galaviz told the News and Tribune last week that the search warrants executed last week were related to allegations of corruption, tax evasion, fraud and ghost employment. He did not confirm the name of the Clark County official under investigation, but property records show that the Jeffersonville home is registered to Noel.

Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull told the News and Tribune last week that ISP is working with a special prosecutor to handle the investigation.

Messages left for Galaviz seeking additional information Monday weren't returned as of publication time.

Clark County Sheriff Scottie Maples released a statement last week saying his office found "troubling evidence of potential criminal activity including financial and payroll irregularities" related to Noel.

Owen confirmed that investigators served search warrants at three New Chapel properties, including a fire station on Charlestown Road in New Albany, a fire station on Utica Sellersburg Road in Jeffersonville and a maintenance shop on Utica Pike in Jeffersonville.

"We cooperated fully with investigators, and they have been very clear that their goal is not to impede on any ambulance operations," he said.

The situation with Noel led the Floyd County Commissioners to meet in an executive session last Thursday to discuss contingency plans for ambulance services.

Al Knable, president of the Floyd County Commissioners, said the commissioners have been in constant communication with representatives of New Chapel.

"We've just been in contact with their operating individuals as well as their attorneys, and they're confident that there will be no disruption in services," he said. "In the meantime, we constantly make inquiries from other service providers with regard to what services they can provide, what costs, etc."

Attorney Heather Archibald-Peters, who is representing New Chapel EMS, also said the agency's service "remains unimpeded." She said she cannot comment on the investigation into Noel.

Archibald-Peters is also the Floyd County GOP Chair, and earlier this year, she requested the censure of Floyd County Council President Denise Konkle by the Indiana 9th District GOP.

The GOP committee approved the censure in February, preventing Konkle from running as a Republican for five years. Noel recused himself from the committee's vote on the censure.

The censure occurred in the middle of a longtime debate over ambulance service in Floyd County.

Some county officials have pushed for pursuing alternative options for ambulance service, while others have maintained their support for New Chapel. Some have questioned Noel's influence on elected officials' decisions regarding EMS matters.

According to Archibald-Peters, the censure was specifically related to Konkle's support for a Democratic council vice president instead of a Republican.

However, Konkle has repeatedly characterized the party's actions as a form of bullying related to her January vote to buy new ambulances for the Lafayette and Greenville fire districts — those opposed to the purchase questioned whether it was an attempt to break away from New Chapel.

In an emailed statement, Archibald-Peters told the News and Tribune on Monday that she does not feel her actions against Konkle were a conflict of interest. She said that she was only recently retained by New Chapel EMS for legal services, but she was not representing the provider when Konkle was censured.

"I did not represent New Chapel at the time of Ms. Konkle's censure nor did anything regarding ambulance service, New Chapel or Mr. Noel have any bearing on my decision as Chairman of Floyd County Republican Party to ask that Ms. Konkle be censured," Archibald-Peters said.

CONTIGENCY PLANS

Knable said that the Floyd County Commissioners plan to continue its agreement with New Chapel "as long as they maintain the ability to provide the same level of service as they have before." Officials are also examining various options for EMS service.

"We had hoped to kind of revisit our annual service late this year and kind of shop around to make sure we're still getting the best deal for the people of Floyd County," he said. "[The discussion] has moved up a little bit, but it's my hope that we'll be able to stay with New Chapel at the same timetable we had before."

He said that the commissioners have been in contact with other providers such as AmeriPro and Trans-Care. He emphasized that this is "a fluid situation."

"I would like to reiterate that my focus is not on that media frenzy about what's going on with the former sheriff in Clark County," Knable said. "My job is to take care of services here in Floyd County. We're not going to get distracted by what may or may not be going on over there."

Clark County Commissioner Jack Coffman said that the commissioners have been assured by New Chapel that there "there will be no interuption in services" but declined to comment further on the situation.

Clark County Council President Barbara Hollis said she has not been part of any contingency planning for EMS service, and she is not aware of any specific issues with New Chapel at this time.

Clark County Health Officer Dr. Eric Yazel, who also serves as the state's EMS medical director, said New Chapel has been "very reassuring that they don't plan to have any interruptions in their operations." However, he noted the importance of backup plans in case there are any disruptions.

"The way I look at it, we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't consider what might happen if there was an interruption in services, but that's something we do all along," he said. "But that's something we've been doing all along. It doesn't matter the service or the situation. We always have backup plans in place and periodically sit down and troubleshoot and say, hey, if something happened to this, what would our plan B be, and we've done that all along from the EMS side of things."

Yazel said New Chapel has been "very communicative with us to make sure that we're up to speed on what's going on."

"We're also monitoring things [like] response times and things like that to make sure that we're not seeing any interruptions in care, and we'll keep doing that until we're confident that the situation smoothes itself out and that there are no other issues. We're ready for whatever those challenges may be coming up."

He said if there is a need for alternative or additional EMS coverage, Clark County could consider other private services or individual municipalities "as far as flexing up services."

Floyd County Health Officer Dr. Tom Harris noted the concerns in Floyd County regarding New Chapel's EMS service. He serves on the new EMS advisory board in Floyd County, which has only met twice so far, he said.

"We're just getting really started, but there have been concerns about response times, there have been concerns about appropriateness in the level of care — paramedic versus non-paramedic runs," he said.

He said there would be challenges for Floyd County if New Chapel services were disrupted, but there are several options for mitigating potential issues.

"Now could you mitigate things?" Harris said. "I think the answer is yes. Lafayette Fire, for example, has an ambulance, and they could potentially make more runs. [AmeriPro] or even the hospital ambulance might be able to assist more. Those are all possibilities."

Konkle said she has been in contact with the Floyd County Commissioners, noting that they "are definitely looking at all options and taking this very seriously."

"I don't think I have any concerns that we can't provide ambulance services to our constituents," she said. "It's something we really have looked diligently at and have been looking at for several years."

She feels that the purchase of additional ambulances in Greenville and Lafayette earlier this year will be helpful as backups if there are any disruptions to service.

"We put all of this in place because we wanted to make sure we had backup services in case something were to ever happen with our current provider, whoever that was at the time," Konkle said. "We just needed to make sure that we could cover the situation no matter what that would be. So we have three [ambulances] up there now and another one on order."