The City of Hartselle is seeking proposals from ambulance companies after its current provider, County EMS, recently went through struggles after its owner died.

At a work session Monday night, Mayor Don Hall said County EMS has worked to obtain its license through the Alabama Department of Public Health.

However, he is concerned that the ambulance provider could be violating city regulations.

“Currently, they are leasing four trucks to Samaritan as a way to cut down on overhead,” Hall said.

“I think that could be in violation of our ordinance.”

Council members agreed with Hall during the meeting.

Councilman Kenny Thompson asked Hall if the city could have two providers.

Hall said the city had issues with “finger pointing” in the past when the city had multiple ambulance services.

Hall’s request stems from issues that came after Terry Garwood, the former owner of County EMS, died in January.

A few weeks later, the ambulance service had three of its trucks repossessed.

“The reason why they repossessed the ambulances is because the financing company thought we had closed because of my father’s death,” said new owner Matthew Garwood, Terry’s son, at a Feb. 11 council work session.

“They were within their right to do that, but we have worked it out with the financing company and we obtained the ambulances on Friday.”

Fire Chief Steve Shelton said then he has not had any issues with County EMS’s response.