Starting today, Pridemark EMS is officially Haynes Ambulance.

Nick Marcotte of Pridemark EMS said that all the same employees will still be employed.

“We have a variance from the state that will allow us to run trucks with Pridemark on them until they can be restriped,” he said. “They are now owned by Haynes.”

Marcotte said the buyout gives the company more resources.

“Right now, we have 27 employees we pull from,” he said. “We can now get more from other areas.”

It was announced at the July E-911 board meeting that Haynes and Pridemark were in talks and the acquisition was likely.

“In today’s world, ambulance businesses have small margins,” Frank Wilson, attorney for Pridemark, said. “People don’t have insurance that covers ambulance service. It has not made it profitable. That caused us to look at all possible options. We approached Haynes. They are a major player in this part of the state.”

Marcotte and Glenn Jowers will still be the face of the ambulance service.

Wednesday afternoon in a special-called board meeting, the E-911 board OK’d an agreement to allow Haynes to assume the rest of the contract for exclusive 911 service for the Opp and Florala areas.

“The contract they are assuming is a four-year contract,” said E-911 board chairman Wayne Godwin. “It will be up in December 2019.”

Godwin said E-911 board attorney Mark Ryan worked with Pridemark’s attorney on making the change over.

Godwin said Florala Mayor Terry Holley also said the city of Florala approved the transfer.

Marcotte said they are excited about the change.

“We are real honored to be able to get this,” he said.