The Randall and Wheatland town boards agreed Tuesday to send out a mailer to their respective residents informing voters about the upcoming referendums on emergency medical services funding.
The boards made last minute changes to a draft copy of the mailing at a joint meeting Tuesday and would not release to westofthei.com a copy of the information before those changes were worked into a finished product , said Randall Chairwoman Paula Soderman.
The boards hope to have the information in the mail by July 29, Soderman said. The referendum is Aug. 13.
A mailing cost not to exceed $1,800 for Wheatland and $2,300 for Randall was approved in a unanimous roll call vote of both boards with all members present. The mailer content was approved in a separate vote, also by a unanimous roll call vote.
The mailer is expected to include information about the options the towns have for contracting for EMS.
At a meeting, a new to public discussion option was mentioned — a joint service intergovernmental agreement between Salem Lakes, Paddock Lake, Randall, Wheatland and Twin Lakes.
The other options in the Randall-Wheatland mailer will be contracting with Ambulnz by DocGo and re-contracting with Twin Lakes Rescue, which has been providing EMS service to both towns — and Twin Lakes — for decades.
In what Soderman called the municipal joint services agreement, the license for Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue would be used. That department has proposed expanding locating ambulances and crews throughout the service area. The service would offer 24 hour seven day coverage and paramedic level care.
Currently Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue provides fire and EMS service to Salem Lakes and to Paddock Lake and Brighton through contracts.
Randall, Wheatland and Twin Lakes already have fire departments and are looking only to contract for EMS.
Wheatland Chairman Brett Butler said after the meeting that a cost of the joint services agreement is not known yet as a contract has not been offered for consideration.
Twin Lakes Rescue proposed a cost of $450,000 shared by the two towns. TLR is an EMT advanced department, which calls for paramedics as mutual aid as needed.
Ambulnz by DocGo has proposed a cost of $430,000 per year shared by the two towns. Ambulnz by DocGo is proposing housing an EMT staffed ambulance in Wheatland and another in Randall. Stationed here also would be a paramedic in a chase vehicle that would go to medical calls and assess patients and ride with the transport to a hospital when needed.
Butler said as far as he is concerned all options are open until a final decision is made.
Soderman was less neutral, saying after the meeting that she personally favors the five municipality joint services proposal.
“To me it looks like the best option,” Soderman said. The joint services proposal might not be the cheapest, but she believes it would be the best, Soderman added.
In the referendums, Wheatland and Randall are seeking to exceed the limit by $150,000 each year for the next five years for each municipality to pay for expanded EMS.
Twin Lakes also set a referendum for Aug. 13 seeking to exceed the levy limit by $526,436 each year for five years to fund EMS.
Starting last summer, Randall, Wheatland and Twin Lakes 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.
At some point, Randall and Wheatland also started entertaining proposals from other entities able to provide EMS.
Salem Lakes approached Randall and Wheatland early on in the process about providing EMS, Soderman said, but at the time, the cost was prohibitive because it was just for Randall and Wheatland. Including more municipalities in the current plan is expected to make the cost more affordable.