The Salem Lakes Village Board on Monday formally started a process to develop an emergency medical services collaborative with four other Western Kenosha County municipalities.
The Salem Lakes board unanimously approved a memo of understanding to develop an intergovernmental agreement between Paddock Lakes, Salem Lakes, Twin Lakes, Wheatland and Randall governing an entity operated by Salem Lakes that would provide EMS to all five municipalities starting on Jan. 1, 2026. The entity is called the Westside Emergency Medical Services Collaborative.
It is anticipated that a board would be created to oversee the WEMS with representation from each member.
Salem Lakes is the first municipality to consider the memo of understanding.
The initiative is the result of about 8 months of talks between the municipalities, said Salem Lakes village administrator Cassandra Hiller.
“It was a wonderful thing to see everyone at the table with a common goal … and keep egos out of it,” said village President Rita Bucur.
Twin Lakes, Randall and Wheatland had been studying the future of their emergency medical services since summer 2023, when Twin Lakes Rescue — which serves those municipalities — announced an initiative to fund 24/7 staffing for their station. In April, Randall and Wheatland passed referendums to provide the extra funding, while Twin Lakes’ referendum failed. Twin Lakes will try again with a lower referendum amount on Nov. 5.
At some point, Randall and Wheatland approached Salem Lakes about providing EMS and the talks began, Hiller said,
The memo of understanding says the initial cost of participating in the collaborative for the municipalities will be $255,150. In addition, Salem Lakes will pay for all staffing for Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue Station 1 in Trevor and 12 hours of staffing at Station 2 in Salem, which serves Paddock Lake.
The collaborative addresses only EMS. Fire departments in Twin Lakes, Randall and Wheatland are unaffected. Paddock Lake separately contracts with Salem Lakes for fire protection.
When operating, the collaborative would provide 24/7 staffed response to all the municipalities, which is not available now for Randall, Wheatland and Twin Lakes. Hiller said.
All EMS departments face challenges recruiting and keeping staff, Hiller said. The hope is that by working together instead of in competition, the collaborative will help ease the persistent staffing problem.
Salem Lakes Fire/Rescue Chief Alan Carr said there are many operational details that need to be analyzed and worked out, but the collaborative presents a “smoothed out and enhanced way” to deal with covering the about 80 square miles served by the collaborative with EMS.
The collaborative would bring to bear six ambulances stationed out of Salem Lakes stations 1 & 2, the Twin Lakes station and an additional unit stationed at Randall Fire Station 2 in Bassett.
Preliminary thinking calls for funds received from billing of patients to fund a regular program of equipment replacement, including one of the ambulances annually, Hiller said.
Salem Lakes currently provides fire and EMS service to cover about half of Brighton. Hiller said future talks will seek to bring that municipality into the EMS collaborative.
