The unanimous decision by county supervisors came amid allegations of a targeted misinformation campaign meant to prey upon the fears of elderly residents
Starting next year, Merced County residents will see a new name on local ambulances.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to select American Medical Response West as the county’s new ambulance provider, ending a business relationship with Riggs Ambulance that lasted nearly 80 years.
Earlier during the same meeting, the board also unanimously denied a protest by Riggs’ over the contract process.
The board chambers were standing-room only as employees from both Riggs and AMR filled the seats and lined the walls. Riggs employees wore deep blue shirts with the words “Save Riggs” and “People over Profits” and wiped tears from their eyes while listening to supporters give emotional testimonies during public comment.
“If you vote for AMR, you will be handing Riggs a death sentence,” Merced County resident Stephanie Marson said during the meeting. “You will be responsible for killing a local institution. By the time AMR finds out that Merced County doesn’t provide the profit margins they want, Riggs will be long gone, and county residents will be left bleeding out on the side of the road.”
Merced County used a consultant to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for ambulance services in May, citing a breach in contract by Riggs for failing to comply with state response time requirements. Riggs, in turn, called the RFP process biased. Both county and Riggs officials accused each other of spreading misinformation.
Riggs Ambulance has provided emergency medical service throughout Merced County since the 1940s. The longtime family-owned company sold to the Nevada-based nonprofit Sierra Medical Services Alliance (SEMSA) in 2015 but continues doing business in Merced as Riggs. SEMSA also operates in Lassen and Modoc County and employs around 320 people total.
American Medical Response West, based in Texas, is part of Global Medical Response, the largest medical transportation company in the world, and operates in a number of U.S. states. The company provides both air and ground ambulances to a number of northern and southern California jurisdictions, including Stanislaus County.
The exclusive ambulance services provider contract the county approved with AMR will begin on Jan. 1 and will run through Dec. 31, 2030. County officials clarified that the county was not trying to save money by switching service providers. Ambulance providers bill customers directly.
Daniel Iniguez, the regional director with AMR, reassured the county supervisors that the company plans to offer jobs to existing and eligible Riggs employees
“My commitment to the current workforce is to partner with them and try to make this transition successful,” he said. “We obviously need them to be successful, and we recognize that. We want to give them a good home. We want to collaborate.”
A fleet of ambulances are shown at Riggs Ambulance’s main office in south Merced. Photo by The Merced FOCUS.
While the county supervisors expressed compassion for the “boots-on-the-ground” employees from Riggs, they stood by the county’s process in choosing a new ambulance provider.
“We’re tasked with the health, welfare and safety of our citizens foremost, above anything else that we do,” Supervisor Scott Silveira said after the meeting. “I’m not looking to make change for the sake of change. There’s obviously reasons behind this. And whether you’re a local business or not a local business, if you can’t provide the service. I have a duty for my citizens to get the best service possible. And I think we made the right choice.”
After the meeting Mike Swenson, Riggs’ operation manager, told The FOCUS that the company will not give up and may even consider legal action.
Response times played a central role
During the county’s rebuttal to Riggs’ protest on Tuesday, Dr. Kristynn Sullivan, Merced County’s Public Health director, said Riggs was in breach of its current contract because of its slow response times, and that’s why the county pursued the RFP process.
“I’m here to share with the board and my fellow residents that the department chose to go out to bid because SEMSA had such poor response times that they were putting residents’ lives at risk,” she said. “When I say a call was late, I do not mean seconds late. The average late call was about 5 minutes late, which is meaningful in an emergency situation.”
Riggs did not meet response time compliance 54 out of 60 months of the current contract, Sullivan said. At its worst, Riggs ambulances were only on time 60% of the time. That did not include calls in which an ambulance never came, which also occurred because the company could not staff well, she said.
Riggs officials disagreed with that assessment.
During the protest hearing on Tuesday, Riggs Operation Manager Mike Swenson said Riggs was given exemptions to response times in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when staffing plummeted. The county did not disclose this information to the public, he said.
To turn things around, Riggs dug into the company’s own pockets to tackle staffing challenges, providing sign-on bonuses and scholarships for paramedics to go to school, Swenson said.
It took time for the company to restore its ranks, Swenson said, and the company has been in compliance on response times since March.
“We know how to get to calls quickly, where, when and how to staff appropriately to provide the best service to Merced County,” Swenson said. “The RFP process threatens to disrupt the system that is now working. We fixed the staffing, stabilized compliance, built the future pipeline of paramedics. Now is not the time to undo this progress. Instead, let’s continue on a proven path forward for the good of Merced County residents.”
When asked by county supervisors, Sullivan noted that Riggs wasn’t in compliance with response time requirements prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that contract period, Riggs began meeting the response time requirements when time neared for the county to go out to bid for a new provider, she said.
The fire chiefs from Merced County’s largest cities, Merced and Los Banos, expressed support for a new ambulance provider.
Merced Fire Chief Casey Wilson said although his agency was not involved, in his view, the RFP process selecting AMR was “fair and equitable.” While he respects the years of service Riggs offered with “professionalism and heart,” Wilson said the company suffered from “an absence of leadership when it mattered most.”
“For example, there’s a significant absence of their leadership in this room today,” Wilson said. “It pains me to see the stress and uncertainty that so many of their employees are experiencing, many of whom are not just professional colleagues, but also friends and family. I am grateful that AMR has expressed a commitment to bringing over as many of those employees as possible, helping to preserve the experience, skills and relationships that have long benefitted our community.”
Los Banos Fire Chief Paul Tualla also spoke in favor of the AMR contract, saying ever since he arrived three years ago he’s seen extreme delays and issues with patient transport under Riggs that resulted in “decisions that we had to make due to the lack of an ambulance.”
“We kind of feel like we’re left out in the west,” Tualla said. “I do feel for the employees. I hope AMR will follow through. Those field crews do an excellent job and I do appreciate what they do with their being put in a position when they arrive on scene late and they’re having to deal with upset family members (and) upset patients.”
Riggs attacks RFP process as biased
During the RFP protest hearing, Swenson accused the process of being biased, alleging the county relied on a lead consultant who failed to disclose he previously worked for AMR as an operations manager.
“This is a direct conflict of interest,” Swenson said. “How can you allow an operations manager to be the person reviewing the county, collecting surveys to discredit Riggs Ambulance and choosing who will be on the panel when it comes time to select the next ambulance provider for Merced County?”
Sullivan said while that consultant did previously work for a separate subcompany of AMR, he was not involved in the selection. County officials pointed out that of the three respondents to the RFP, only Riggs protested the county’s process.
During Tuesday’s hearing, many Riggs ambulance drivers, EMTs and paramedics also showed up to support their employer.
Maribel Hernandez, a clinical manager at Riggs, told the board she fears many of the employees she works with could now lose their jobs.
“I am asking you to pause before you finalize the award and allow a rebid, to make sure we fully consider the impact on our local workforce and economy,” Hernandez said. “Many of these employees have worked in Merced County for 10, 20, 30, even 40 years. And if this contract proceeds as it stands, those jobs will be lost in Merced County.”
Riggs officials also said that the 230 people the consultants surveyed for the RFP was insufficient. Riggs collected 1,700 signatures of support in its own petition.
Merced Fire Chief Casey Wilson is shown speaking in support of the contract with AMR during the Merced County Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 7. 2025. Photo by Brianna Vaccari/The Merced FOCUS.
Misinformation and campaign to “Save Riggs”
Several county supervisors blasted a community campaign to save Riggs as misinformation and a scare tactic.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s meeting, the county supervisors said their days were spent fielding hundreds of calls from constituents – mostly senior citizens – who received flyers and robocalls warning of disruptions to ambulance services that would occur if Riggs leaves Merced County.
Sullivan said the claims in the flyers were completely false.
“The county will continue to have EMS service. There will not be a disruption in service,” Sullivan said. “The county is simply recommending a different contractor to provide these services because a different company submitted a higher quality bid.”
It’s unclear who was behind the flyers. Swenson denied Riggs sent them.
Supervisor Lloyd Pareira and his colleagues said the flyers were filled with misinformation that only served to frighten Merced County residents.
“What I also find disgusting is that (Riggs/SEMSA) did not put out that ‘hey, that’s misleading information. We don’t agree with that. We don’t think that’s right,’” Pareira said.
Pareira said his office received up to 150 calls, many of them from elderly constituents, who were scared that if they called an ambulance they would not get a response, based on the information in the flyers.
“Whoever did this, you are a disgusting human being,” Pareira said. “And I am sorry that our folks in my district and the rest of the county had to endure this.”
Board Chair Josh Pedrozo and Silveira also had strong words for whoever sent the mailers.
“To scare senior citizens, to take advantage of them, by using them to save your company, is shameful,” Pedrozo said. “I wish I could express to you the amount of calls that we received, with older folks on the phone genuinely afraid for their lives.”
Silveira, a former volunteer firefighter who chairs the county’s emergency medical care committee, said he’s never received more phone calls on an issue during his seven years on the board.
“Their campaign was very effective – effective in scaring people,” Silveira said.
