After approving a third non-emergency transport service franchise in the county tonight, commissioners enacted a three-year moratorium on allowing any more to operate.

During that time the board will study the impacts of having three providers, Halifax County Manager Tony Brown said.

The unanimous decision to move ahead with the moratorium came after a split vote on granting Atlas Transportation a franchise. Commissioner Rachel Hux voted against the Atlas franchise.

The Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad requested a moratorium at a meeting earlier this month. Squad Commander Mark Collier said following tonight's meeting he was pleased with the decision. “I'm good with that. I support it totally.”

Brown said two years of the moratorium will be for analyzing the decision to move forward with it while the third year will allow commissioners time to decide whether to continue or ditch it. “We will assess how well the providers are doing.”

Commissioner Rives Manning said, “If we dilute it too much Halifax County will get back in the EMS business by default.”

Brown said the county will begin setting up a monitoring system to assess the performance of the three providers — Atlas, Roanoke Valley and Eastern Medical.

Chairman James Pierce said the monitoring would be able to tell the county if the providers are progressing or deteriorating. “We'll see if they get better, the worse or the same.”

Board member Carolyn Johnson wanted to know how the monitoring would be done.

Said Brown: “That's the part of it we'll be engaging through hospitals and those who need the service.”

In another matter tonight the board agreed to provide $440,000 from the general fund to pay the state Department of Transportation upfront money to begin road improvements to the corporate park. The entire project is $1.2 million. The Golden Leaf Foundation will pay back the county in installments, Economic Development Director Cathy Scott said.

The work should be completed in May.