BELLE  — Ozark Central Ambulance District’s (OCAD) newly hired interim administrator Josh Krull is taking inventory of narcotics following recent allegations by two individuals that they had not received medications that had been reported given to them by staff.

Krull, who was appointed interim administrator on Dec. 28, said, “On day one of starting I did come on-site and do a narcotics audit which was completed on all the trucks, the office stock, and expired stock.”

Krull said, “It is an ongoing investigation.”

Board President Cindy Butler added that Krull will be handling all matters for the district.

Krull informed the board that all licenses have been changed over from the prior administrator into his name and that bank accounts would be changed the day after the meeting when he has all the appropriate signatures. He also stated that the previous administrator’s account access has been deleted in all systems.

Krull proposed the 2022 budget for the district with an estimated income of $747,000 and estimated expenses to be at $730,200.

“Without having a lot of time to dive into the expenses and things, I did run a five-year history of what the common expenses were,” said Krull. “I have something that may have to be adjusted but I at least got us something on paper using where we were for 2021 to get us a starting point for 2022. We may have to adjust as we dig in a little bit more.”

Board member Andy Littrell said that in the past they balanced the budget out to $0.

Krull said that he would do that but he has, in the past, seen budgets approved with the remainder going into a capital expense like a money market.

Butler said that would be a smart idea if they could do it and hold themselves to it.

Krull said that the money would be used to cover expenses and would allocate it as needed.

“What we would do there is we would basically account for the $17,000,” said Krull. “It does balance out and shows that we are not being wasteful.”

The board passed the budget proposal unanimously.

OTHER NEWS

* There were 81 calls for service in December.

* The total calls for 2021 were 1035, with 617 being billed for service.

* The December financial report was tabled until next month’s meeting. This was to give Krull time to review all the material so an accurate report could be generated.

* Work on the helipad should resume in February.

* Krull has hired 2 PRN medics and 6 PRN EMTs.