``People walk up to me all the time and complain," Louisa city council member Clyde Welch said. ``I don't have a good thing to say about them, and I don't think many people in Louisa do either."

Life Star is a privately owned and operated ambulance service which serves Lawrence, Pike, Martin, Floyd and Johnson counties. It currently has four ambulances on the road.

At last week's city council meeting, Mayor Michael Sullivan said he is sending a letter to the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services in Frankfort, asking for an investigation into Life Star.

He said citizens have complained about the length of time it takes for an ambulance to respond, as well as the unreasonable amount of money charged for the company's services.

Life Star owner Phillip Elliott said Friday he has never been contacted by the city or county government about the ambulance service's performance and is unaware of any problems.

According to Elliott, he has never received a single complaint.

``They have never come to us with any problems that they have had," he said. ``We would be more than willing to talk to them if they had."

Welch said Elliott and other representatives of Life Star were invited to attend a city council meeting to discuss complaints against them, but they never responded to the offer.

Brian Bishop, executive director of the state EMS board, said he could not confirm if any complaints had been filed. And he could not comment on complaints filed against any company, because ``they are confidential until they are completely resolved."

Jeff Pack, coordinator of Lawrence County's enhanced 911 dispatch center, said he planned to file a complaint with the state EMS board Friday after a seventh-grader at Louisa Middle School experienced severe chest pains and a high fever.

The child needed immediate medical attention, but Life Star did not respond in the state-mandated time of five minutes. According to Louisa Fire Chief Eddie Preston, it was 10 to 12 minutes before the ambulance arrived at the school.

Engine problems and emergency calls in other counties kept the ambulance from responding within a reasonable amount of time, Preston said.

Elliott responded to Friday's incident by saying, ``We're not perfect. We make mistakes — like we did this morning. But, we will review what we did wrong and try to improve upon it."

Preston said Life Star frequently has problems getting to emergency scenes.

``It's a problem we have quite often," he said. ``We (the fire department) try to respond whenever we can, but we are just volunteers and we don't have any way to transport anyone to the hospital."

He said most of the department's volunteer firefighters have full-time jobs, which makes it difficult for them to respond to emergencies.

``Sure it's added to our workload. But, because of the need, we are in the process of upgrading everyone to be at least a first responder," Preston said.

About six or seven of the firefighters are already certified emergency medical technicians, he said.

In worse case scenarios, ambulances from Fort Gay, W.Va., are called in to assist.

Lawrence County has an ambulance board, whose members are appointed by Judge-Executive David Compton. But because Life Star is a private company, the county board has no jurisdiction over its operations.

Teddy Preston, chairman of the ambulance board and a Louisa council member, said the county might file a certificate of need with the state, seeking another ambulance service.

The county would have to show why another service is needed.