BELHAVEN — Changes in EMS services may be coming soon to the Belhaven/Pantego area.

The Belhaven/Pantego EMS Advisory Board decided to work on an agreement with the county for EMS services at a Wednesday meeting. The board hopes to have something concrete in place by the next meeting on June 8, as well as discuss Belhaven’s funding responsibilities for services.

Before the agreement goes into effect, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners and the Belhaven Board of Aldermen must approve it.

This decision comes after Beaufort County EMS announced its plan to take over service in the area, replacing White Oak EMS’ private-contract services by maintaining a county-owned ambulance in Belhaven, while also adding the services of a paramedic-manned Quick Response Vehicle (QRV) stationed in Bath.

County EMS Director John Flemming said Wednesday the new plan involves resource management, meaning if the primary Belhaven truck is dispatched, an intermediate-level and a paramedic-level truck in other parts of the county will move to staging locations to ensure efficient response time in the Belhaven/Pantego area.

Flemming said the plan would account for four scenarios: if the Belhaven truck is on call, the Medic-3 QRV moves to Northeast Elementary School, and the intermediate-level EMS-6 moves to the Bath Community EMS building; if the Belhaven truck and EMS-6 are on call, Medic-3 would move to the Hess station in Belhaven; if the Belhaven truck and Medic-3 are on call, EMS-6 moves to Northeast Elementary School; and if all three are on call, the next-closest unit will be dispatched.

“As soon as that unit in Belhaven is dispatched, these two units in Bath already have the wheels moving,” Flemming said. “We’ve got to look at how do we cover all the requests for EMS services and how do we do it with the resources we’ve got.”

Ricky White, owner of White Oak EMS, announced his decision to hand over services to the county at an emergency Board of Commissioners meeting Monday. White also offered to sell two ambulances with equipment, radio and supplies to the county for $100,000 — an offer the board approved 7-0.

White said at Wednesday’s meeting that he didn’t want any hard feelings from the Belhaven community, as his decision was made from a business standpoint with employees’ jobs in mind.

“As a business person, I felt like it was best for me and the employees down here to keep going,” he said. “It opened the door for my employees to apply for county jobs.  … Nobody should be losing their job if they want to work.”

Belhaven Mayor Adam O’Neal said he thinks the new system would actually increase response times, saying he couldn’t see why having one primary truck in Belhaven with QRV access in Bath would be better than the two trucks in Belhaven now. Residents in attendance also expressed their confusion on the matter.

Belhaven Manager Woody Jarvis said reopening the hospital in Belhaven is directly related to the EMS services issue, but he said until the hospital opens, the town needs to put together an agreement for county EMS services available now.

County Manager Brian Alligood said the county is actually following a common model in rural areas, where EMS services have to cover a wide area while keeping costs down. He said there is no way to staff trucks to accommodate every emergency, but the county EMS is working to provide the best services it can.

“The concept isn’t different from any other agencies,” Alligood said. “It’s a funding issue. Those resources are not at the table right now.”

Flemming referenced the state database for 911 calls, saying the Belhaven/Pantego area had only 132 calls for service from Jan. 1 to May 10.

However, Mayor O’Neal disputed this number, saying it was actually 283 calls.

White said there was no foul play involved with the discrepancy, but rather the state database is likely not up to date, so it doesn’t show the latest numbers, which he also places at 283 calls.

Flemming said his job is to ensure the best emergency care for county residents, which he feels will be accomplished with the countywide system, and he intends to push toward quicker response times within a 15-minute time frame or less.

“You can’t afford to put an ambulance every 20 miles. … That’s what we’re faced with in a rural setting,” Alligood said. “One life is worth every bit of that (money). I completely understand that, but the hard reality is how are you going to pay for that?”

The Belhaven/Pantego Advisory Board will meet June 8 at 10 a.m. at the Charlie Smith Center.