190.060. Powers of district.
Powers of district.
190.060. 1. An ambulance district shall have the followinggovernmental powers, and all other powers incidental, necessary, convenientor desirable to carry out and effectuate the express powers:
(1) To establish and maintain an ambulance service within itscorporate limits, and to acquire for, develop, expand, extend and improvesuch service;
(2) To acquire land in fee simple, rights in land and easements upon,over or across land and leasehold interests in land and tangible andintangible personal property used or useful for the location,establishment, maintenance, development, expansion, extension orimprovement of an ambulance service. The acquisition may be by dedication,purchase, gift, agreement, lease, use or adverse possession;
(3) To operate, maintain and manage the ambulance service, and tomake and enter into contracts for the use, operation or management of andto provide rules and regulations for the operation, management or use ofthe ambulance service;
(4) To fix, charge and collect reasonable fees and compensation forthe use of the ambulance service according to the rules and regulationsprescribed by the board from time to time;
(5) To borrow money and to issue bonds, notes, certificates, or otherevidences of indebtedness for the purpose of accomplishing any of itscorporate purposes, subject to compliance with any condition or limitationset forth in sections 190.001 to 190.090 or otherwise provided by theConstitution of the state of Missouri;
(6) To employ or enter into contracts for the employment of anyperson, firm, or corporation, and for professional services, necessary ordesirable for the accomplishment of the objects of the district or theproper administration, management, protection or control of its property;
(7) To maintain the ambulance service for the benefit of theinhabitants of the area comprising the district regardless of race, creedor color, and to adopt such reasonable rules and regulations as may benecessary to render the highest quality of emergency medical care; toexclude from the use of the ambulance service all persons who willfullydisregard any of the rules and regulations so established; to extend theprivileges and use of the ambulance service to persons residing outside thearea of the district upon such terms and conditions as the board ofdirectors prescribes by its rules and regulations;
(8) To provide for health, accident, disability and pension benefitsfor the salaried members of its organized ambulance district and such otherbenefits for the members' spouses and minor children, through either, orboth, a contributory or noncontributory plan. The type and amount of suchbenefits shall be determined by the board of directors of the ambulancedistrict within the level of available revenue of the pension program andother available revenue of the district. If an employee contributory planis adopted, then at least one voting member of the board of trustees shallbe a member of the ambulance district elected by the contributing members.The board of trustees shall not be the same as the board of directors;
(9) To purchase insurance indemnifying the district and itsemployees, officers, volunteers and directors against liability inrendering services incidental to the furnishing of ambulance services.Purchase of insurance pursuant to this section is not intended to waivesovereign immunity, official immunity or the Missouri public duty doctrinedefenses; and
(10) To provide for life insurance, accident, sickness, health,disability, annuity, length of service, pension, retirement and otheremployee-type fringe benefits, subject to the provisions of section 70.615,RSMo, for the volunteer members of any organized ambulance district andsuch other benefits for their spouses and eligible unemancipated children,either through a contributory or noncontributory plan, or both. Forpurposes of this section, "eligible unemancipated child" means a natural oradopted child of an insured, or a stepchild of an insured who is domiciledwith the insured, who is less than twenty-three years of age, who is notmarried, not employed on a full-time basis, not maintaining a separateresidence except for full-time students in an accredited school orinstitution of higher learning, and who is dependent on parents orguardians for at least fifty percent of his or her support. The type andamount of such benefits shall be determined by the board of directors ofthe ambulance district within available revenues of the district, includingthe pension program of the district. The provision and receipt of suchbenefits shall not make the recipient an employee of the district.Directors who are also volunteer members may receive such benefits whileserving as a director of the district.
2. The use of any ambulance service of a district shall be subject tothe reasonable regulation and control of the district and upon suchreasonable terms and conditions as shall be established by its board ofdirectors.
3. A regulatory ordinance of a district adopted pursuant to anyprovision of this section may provide for a suspension or revocation of anyrights or privileges within the control of the district for a violation ofany regulatory ordinance.
4. Nothing in this section or in other provisions of sections 190.001to 190.245 shall be construed to authorize the district or board toestablish or enforce any regulation or rule in respect to the operation ormaintenance of the ambulance service within its jurisdiction which is inconflict with any federal or state law or regulation applicable to the samesubject matter.
5. After August 28, 1998, the board of directors of an ambulancedistrict that proposes to contract for the total management and operationof the ambulance service, when that ambulance district has not previouslycontracted out for said service, shall hold a public hearing within athirty-day period and shall make a finding that the proposed contract tomanage and operate the ambulance service will:
(1) Provide benefits to the public health that outweigh theassociated costs;
(2) Maintain or enhance public access to ambulance service;
(3) Maintain or improve the public health and promote the continueddevelopment of the regional emergency medical services system.
6. (1) Upon a satisfactory finding following the public hearing insubsection 5 of this section and after a sixty-day period, the ambulancedistrict may enter into the proposed contract, however said contract shallnot be implemented for at least thirty days.
(2) The provisions of subsection 5 of this section shall not apply tocontracts which were executed prior to August 28, 1998, or to the renewalor modification of such contracts or to the signing of a new contract withan ambulance service provider for services that were previously contractedout.
(L. 1971 S.B. 108 § 11, A.L. 1986 H.B. 898, et al., A.L. 1993 H.B. 177, A.L. 1998 S.B. 743, A.L. 1999 S.B. 436)