A series of letters between City Attorney Ed Rutan and Gold Cross lawyers show that the company wanted to block Southwest's license until the City Council approved the ambulance contract. Rutan argued that the city had approval from its governing body, which he interpreted to be Anderson, who oversees the purchasing and contracts division.

Eastman's bill would require city and county councils to approve the requests and offer input before soliciting proposals. But it's not retroactive and won't ostensibly apply to Salt Lake's contract with Southwest.

"We believe the City Council is supportive of what we've done thus far and is supportive of the fact that a (request for proposals) is released," said Scott Freitag, a fire department spokesman and chairman of the committee that ranked Southwest higher than Gold Cross.

Moffitt would not say how much losing the Salt Lake City contract cost his company but said that legal action "is still being discussed on our end."

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com