Tim Beals, executive director of Delta Ambulance, sits inside a Delta ambulance in February. Beals has announced he will step down as executive director next month. Morning Sentinel file

Tim Beals, the executive director of Delta Ambulance for the past 27 years, plans to step down from his position Nov. 8.

Beals, 64, of Winslow has worked a total of 39 years for Delta, a full-service, community-based paramedic ambulance service that has been in operation 50 years and serves 16 central Maine communities.

He said he will continue to be affiliated with the nonprofit organization in a part-time advisory role after Nov. 8, and will be involved in its training center.

Beals said he and his family have talked about his retirement for some time, and he decided to make the move.

“It was not a decision I made lightly, but the timing seemed right,” he said. “Chris Mitchell will be interim executive director. He was director of operations, and now he’s going to take on the interim role.

“The board is going to do due diligence and do a search. I hope Chris eventually is the permanent executive director. He’s a great guy, he has good instincts, he is knowledgeable about the business. I think he’s got a great leadership team around him.”

As executive director, Beals supervises about 100 employees who work out of Delta’s bases at 29 Chase Ave. in Waterville and 10 Cony Road in Augusta. Asked what he is most proud of during his career, he talked about his staff members and their work.

“Over the years, we were able to upgrade both of our base locations, the one in Augusta and the one in Waterville,” he said. “I think the thing that stands out for me is the quality of our staff, the quality of our patient care, quality of our billing procedures and how we work with patients. I think that’s been really important to me.”

Delta operates on a budget of about $7 million a year and has 16 ambulances and intercept vehicles. In recent years, some local fire departments have bought ambulances and become certified by the state to transport patients to hospitals, which has affected Delta, a regional ambulance service.

“EMS (emergency medical services), the industry itself, has been struggling nationally,” Beals said. “It’s no secret. Maine is not unique — staffing shortages, reimbursement not covering the cost of doing business. It doesn’t matter if it’s nonprofit or municipal. The answer is not more small ambulance services. That’s the wrong direction. Breaking up a regional system doesn’t make the system stronger.”

Dr. Steve Diaz, medical director for Delta since 2000, said Beals has done a commendable job serving Kennebec County for many years and has served at the state level in roles at Maine EMS and the Maine Ambulance Association.

“And he has been a pleasure with whom to work in all capacities,” Diaz wrote Wednesday in an email. “He is a strong advocate for EMS, making sure the frontline crews have the training, support and team ethic to succeed at their chosen profession. Much has changed over the many years, and Tim has kept abreast of the changes and worked to keep Delta’s partnerships vibrant if not growing.”

Michael Roy, who served on the Delta Ambulance board of directors for 19 years, said Beals took over Delta when it was a fairly small company and built it into a well-recognized regional emergency medical services provider.

“And this was at no cost to our area towns,” said Roy, a former Waterville city manager. “He instilled a strong education and training program, and Delta’s quality control component was a model for other ambulance services.”

Beals said he has enjoyed his years at Delta.

“It’s been a great place to work,” he said. “The board of directors has always been supportive, not only of me, but employees, in terms of making sure they had the right equipment and a good benefit package. I’m extremely grateful for the people on the leadership team with me. Some of them have been right with me from the beginning. That’s important.”