Bellevue Council will solicit proposals from ambulance services.

During council's regular meeting on Aug. 24, safety committee chair David Gillingham Jr. said that he was concerned that Bellevue did not have a formal written contract with any ambulance service. Up to now, he said, Bellevue has had only a "handshake" with NorthWest EMS.

The agreement holds only that calls to 9-1-1 and emergency requests from police for an ambulance are automatically routed to NorthWest. Residents of Bellevue are free to employ any ambulance service.

Council member Jane Braunlich wanted to make a motion that Bellevue keep NorthWest as its ambulance service for the year. Director of Administrative Services Doug Sample said that NorthWest needed to present a proposed contract to council before such a motion could be made.

Gillingham said that both Northwest and Ross-West View ambulance services had made presentations to council, a claim that was disputed by Braunlich and council member Linda Woshner. In fact, although both services spoke before the safety committee, the committee arranged for only Ross-West View to speak to council as a whole.

Mayor George Doscher requested that the motion be tabled until proposals had been provided by both ambulance companies. Braunlich withdrew her motion, and moved to send the issue to the safety committee to obtain the proposals.This motion was approved unanimously.