Mayor of Ponce Inlet Addresses Residents in a Letter.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

In a release, this morning from the Town of Ponce Inlet, the Mayor of Ponce Inlet, Gary Smith, has addressed residents via letter. The reasoning behind the letter is to keep all residents fully informed on issues affecting the town. 

“After reading the Citizens for Ponce Inlet Newsletter and the Hometown News, I wanted to explain and clarify some facts regarding the issues being discussed in the campaign for the upcoming Town election,” said Smith. 

“The first and most important issue is the transporting of patients to area hospitals. Before the town persuaded the County to allow us to transport, a resident’s call to 911 would then prompt dispatch of Town personnel and a County EVAC ambulance. Our personnel would always arrive first and if no transport was required, the EVAC ambulance would be canceled,” Smith said in the letter. “If the transport was required, the EVAC ambulance would continue on the call and transport the patient to the hospital.”

Smith explains the hard work put in by personnel, to convince Volusia County to allow Ponce Inlet to transport people to local hospitals under their license and insurance. Ponce Inlet was one of the first two towns allowed transport under the trial agreement. Now several cities have this type of agreement. 

“The agreement with the County has resulted in significantly reduced time from the initial call to hospital arrival with no gaps in continuity of care,” Smith said. “Our agreement with the County requires that we also transport patients from outside of town if we are the closest ambulance available at the time of the call. Canceling this agreement would also cancel our ability to transport our residents and we would return to the procedure previously described.”

The County is responsible for billing the patient and then reimburses the town for each transport; therefore, making every transport is a source of income for Ponce Inlet.

The second issue is the public boat ramp and trailer parking. 

“Ponce Inlet owns both facilities. However, we only maintain the trailer parking lot.” Smith said. 

According to the letter the boat ramp is maintained by other government agencies that are also responsible for dredging to maintain the required channel depth.

 The last issue concerns a proposed digital marquee sign at Town Hall. 

According to Smith, “This could be accomplished with a change to our sign codes. However, such a change to the sign code would allow every business in Ponce Inlet to also have a digital marquee sign.”

Mayor Smith is available to answer resident's questions or concerns regarding the issues in his letter by emailing him at gsmith@ponce-inlet.org, or by phone (386-233-9376).