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it. Commissioner Eggert emphasized that the county has not taken over the volunteer ambulance squad. We are working in coopera- tion with it, and every bit of community support possible should be given to the ambulance squads. She does not want that misunderstood. The other thing that has come up is that everything has seemed to hone in on the cost and whether the relative cost is more or less than before. She wants people to remember that the reason this came up in the first place is that the Ward Report that the Hospital had done was concerned #1 with operations. It focused on the fact that there was no central point operating these squads; that we had too many cars on the road responding all at one time; and that territorialism had developed among the different entities. Then we came to the cost factor - the other factors were much stronger. Commissioner Eggert emphasized that we have wonderful cooperation going now and she continues with her desire to support the volunteer ambulance squads as much as we can. Chairman Wheeler concurred and believed the whole Board does. He noted that he sits on the Board of the United Way, and he wished to clarify the statement made by Mr. Evans, President of the United Way, so it doesn't become a further misunderstand- ing. Although he has not read the article referred to, he assumed Mr. Evans was referring to the fact that the United Way had expanded its contributions to Fellsmere Ambulance Squad when it took over Sebastian, and in no way was United Way looking at not supporting the Fellsmere Ambulance Squad. Possibly they were looking at that portion that had been spent on Sebastian because they were no longer a volunteer agency and no longer providing the service to Sebastian. The Chairman did not feel that United Way's support of the Ambulance Squad has in any way diminished, nor did he believe there is any intention of that. He personally always has supported the volunteers, and they do an excellent job. 37 MAY 21989