Leaders of Twin Lakes Fire Department and Rescue Squad made a pitch Monday to get back into negotiations with Randall and Wheatland about continuing to provide emergency medical services to the towns in 2025.
The presentation came at a special meeting of the Wheatland Town Board and Randall Town Board at Wheatland Town Hall in New Munster. All members of both boards were present, with Randall Supervisor Julie Horbach attending via Zoom.
“I want to start negotiating again,” said Twin Lakes Fire and Rescue Chief Ron Redlin. “Bascially we have until Jan. 1 to see if we can continue providing ambulance sevice to you guys.”
Twin Lakes Rescue has provided EMS service to the towns in some form since 1929, Redlin said. Twin Lakes also contracts with the department for EMS.
Last summer, the three municipalities and TLFR began exploring how to fund 24/7 station coverage for EMS out of the Twin Lakes station. There were some joint meetings and a $900,000 to $1 million cost estimated. Eventually a cost of $900,000 divided with Twin Lakes paying 50 percent and the towns each paying 25 percent was established. The plan then was for each municipality to hold a referendum in April to approve the needed funding.
That timeline broke down over ironing out some details about who the new EMTs would work for and other details. The referendum target was switched to August.
More recently, TLFR submitted contracts to Randall and Wheatland with an approval deadline for April 15. The deadline was driven, Redlin said, by the timeline for an August referendum.
Both towns also had begun seeking other possibilities, such as private companies, for EMS service.
At one point, Paddock Lake also was a party to the negotiations with a private company, but later dropped out. The problem for Paddock Lake was that unlike Randall or Wheatland, Paddock Lake, does not have its own fire department, said Paddock Lake village administrator Tim Popanda. Paddock Lake currently contracts with Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue for both fire protection and EMS. Fire service only from Salem Lakes was not a possibility.
Neither Wheatland nor Randall approved the TLFR contract by the requested April 15 deadline. At a special meeting that day, the Wheatland board voted unanimously to continue negotiations with Ambulnz By Docgo, the private EMS company. Randall did the same at an April 11 meeting.
Then TLFR requested a chance to make their case again to the town boards and address any misconceptions, which resulted in the meeting Monday.
“In my opinion there’s been a lot of miscommunication,” Redlin said at the meeting. “There’s been a lot of headbutting going on.”
“We at Twin Lakes Fire Department would like to still negotiate with both towns for a contract to provide EMS services starting in 2025,” Redlin’s statement concluded.
After finishing his prepared remarks, Redlin took questions from board members. Questions included:
- Where will applicants for the new positions be from (asked by Wheatland Chairman Brett Butler)? Redlin said he hadn’t considered requiring a certain geography. Instead he said he favored hiring well-qualified individuals, while adding that he felt there would be several strong internal candidates.
- Would money from the towns go exclusively to rescue service, not the Twin Lakes Fire Department? Redlin responded that it would only go to rescue.
- Randall town Chairperson Paula Soderman asked about level of service, as in advanced EMT vs. paramedic. Redlin answered that Twin Lakes Rescue would remain an advanced EMT department with the ability to have paramedics respond from neighboring departments when needed. Over the course of time, he said, there are fewer and fewer distinctions between paramedics and advanced EMTs, he said.
- Randall Supervisor George Balitz asked about response time versus the private company’s proposal to house a ambulance at the Wheatland firehouse. Balitz used a crash at Highway 50 and Highway W as an example. Redlin conceded response would likely be faster from the Wheatland firehouse for that example, perhaps as much as two minutes. That is why TL Rescue values the response from Wheatland and Randall’s medical first responders, Redlin said.
At the meeting, Redlin clarified that TLFR will now seek a 4 percent yearly increase instead of 8 percent and that there is no longer a deadline for signing a contract.
Randall and Wheatland board members did not express a preference for either provider Monday. They did tentatively set a similar meeting with representatives from Ambulnz By Docgo, for May 16.
“We shopped it out, and it was a great experience for us,” Wheatland Supervisor Kelly Wilson said “because we now have something to compare it with. Partnering means a lot to us,” adding “we have to do what’s best for us.”
After the meeting, Redlin said he was satisfied with the meeting.
“I really hope this isn’t the last meeting we have,” Redlin said near the end of the question and answer period.
About 50 people were in the audience, including the Wheatland Vol. Fire Department chief and the Town of Randall Fire Department chief. Three people spoke during citizens’ comments, all advocating for combining all fire departments and rescue squads west of the I.
