The Crossville City Council passed a resolution to create a City operated Fire-EMS.  Voting for the motion was Councilmembers Art Gernt, Mike Turner and Dr. Mark Fox.  The nay votes were Councilmember James Mayberry and City Mayor R.J. Crawford. Crossville News First conducted a poll asking if the community was in favor of a City Operated EMS.  43 percent favored the idea that the city investigate the idea of implementing a separate EMS program to help speed response.

An ambulance service would differ from the City Fire and Police Department in that the Ambulance would be funded mainly by customers – or the people it would serve and transport.  The Police and Fire Department are funded entirely by taxpayer money. Some of the annual funding would come from the City general fund depending of the number of calls the Ambulance Service would make throughout the year.  A presentation to the council showed that implementing an ambulance service would take an estimated $3.72 million, but the service would bring in an estimated revenue of $2.2 million. The council said there are some grants and other funding that the city could pursue to help with startup costs.

Council Member Mike Turner said he believes an ambulance service could work in Crossville if done right.  There are only ten cities in Tennessee with their own EMS program.  Councilmember Dr. Fox is spearheading the effort to create an EMS service for the city of Crossville. Fox points out the growth of Cumberland County has outgrown the County EMS service and that the response time for ambulances can be hindered by the existing ambulances being on call either to medical emergencies in the county and city or transporting patients from CMC to Knoxville and Nashville hospital at the request of CMC.