Together with my capable staff members, we have negotiated successfully with the City of Laredo to continue providing the County with ambulance and fire protection services. Additionally, in the near future we will bring to the court, for its consideration, a proposal for providing our community with emergency air transportation, complete with helicopter EMS services. This important program will reduce emergency response-time by at least 2/3, and with it, we will have the means to transport seriously injured people to the hospital as quickly as possible so that they may receive emergency medical treatment when time is critical.