The Three Rivers Ambulance Authority Board of Directors consists of nine members. The members include individuals representing the public with various special backgrounds including legal, healthcare, financial, and the general public.
TRAA is a City and County organization and was created by local ordinances and an Interlocal Cooperative Agreement between the City of Fort Wayne and Allen County. The interlocal cooperative agreement defines TRAA Board membership.
Under the Interlocal Cooperative Agreement, four (4) board members are appointed by the Mayor of the City of Fort Wayne, four (4) board members are appointed by the Commissioners of Allen County. The ninth board member is an un-appointed member and is a physician. This board member is always the current Chairperson of the local EMS medical control board, the Emergency Medical Services Foundation, Inc. City appointees must live within the City of Fort Wayne and County appointees must live in Allen County. County appointees may live within the City limits or elsewhere in the county. Board members are volunteers and receive no compensation for their services.
The term for board member appointments is also determined by the interlocal cooperative agreement. Three (3) of the City appointees and three (3) of the County appointees serve staggered three (3) year terms. Each year one (1) City and one (1) County member appointment expires and at that time the current board member may be either re-appointed by the appropriate government entity or may be replaced by a new appointee. The fourth member of the City appointees and the fourth member of the County appointees serve “indeterminate” terms. Their term does not expire until they are replaced by the appropriate appointing entity. The ninth position, the position held by the EMS Foundation Chairperson only changes when a new chairperson of the EMS Foundation is appointed by the EMS Foundation Board members.
The TRAA Board meets monthly and is responsible for the business operations of the local ambulance service. The Board oversees TRAA finances and sets TRAA’s rates as outlined by the local ordinance. Rates must be sufficient to keep TRAA self-sufficient as required by the ordinance as the ordinance require that TRAA operate without any local tax subsidy. Additionally, the Board is responsible for a periodic competitive RFP process to choose an operations contractor and to award the operations contract based what the Board determines is the best proposal.
The TRAA Board of Directors consists of 9 members
Four (4) members are appointed by the Mayor of the City of Fort Wayne, four (4) members are appointed by the Allen County Commissioners, and the ninth (9th) member is always the current chairperson of the EMS Foundation, Inc. (the Medical Control Board created by local ordinance)
Three (3) of the City appointees and three (3) of the County appointees serve staggered three (3) year terms. Each year, one (1) City and one (1) County appointee expires. At that time, the current board member may be either re-appointed by the appropriate government entity, or they may be replaced by a new appointee. The fourth member of both the the City anmd County appointees serve “indetermanant” terms. Their terms do not expire until they are replaced by the appropriate appointing entity. The ninth position, the position held by the EMS Foundation Chairperson only changes when a new chairperson of the EMS Foundation is appointed by the EMS Foundation Board members.
Board members are volunteer and do not receive payment for their services.
The TRAA Board meets monthly
The Board meets at TRAA’s offices located at 525 Hayden Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Yes, unless the Board is meeting in a closed session following guidelines set out by the State of Indiana Public Access Counselor, all meetings are open to the public. Meetings are generally held on the 4th Thursday of every month unless cancelled or rescheduled for a particular reason.
To express your interest in being appointed to the TRAA Board, you should contact either the Mayor of the City of Fort Wayne’s office or the office of the Allen County Commissioners.
Rachel J. Guin, JD
Chairwoman of the Board
Rothberg Logan Warsco LLP
Brett Steffen
Vice Chairman
Parkview Health Systems
David T. Parish
Secretary
Lincoln Financial Services
Dr. Christian Bridgwater, DO
Chairman – EMS Foundation, Inc
Eric Lahey
Chief
Fort Wayne Fire Department
Gary Wasson
Operations Director – Retired
Grand Wayne Center
Kathleen Smith
Asst. City Controller
City of Fort Wayne
Bernard J. “Bernie” Beier
Director, Allen County
Department of Homeland Security
Kathy Kopka
VP Access & Transfer
Lutheran Health Network
Dr. Scott Mann, MD
TRAA Medical Director
Joel Benz
TRAA Executive Director