Wheatland has joined Randall and Salem Lakes in approving what is expected to be a five municipality collaborative for providing emergency medical services starting in 2026.
The vote to approve the memo of understanding to develop an intergovernmental agreement at a Wheatland Town Board meeting Monday was 3-0, said town Clerk Donna Deuster.
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. In addition, preliminary plans call for funds received for billing patients for service to be pooled and used for capital needs, such as new ambulances and equipment.
Ultimately, ambulances will be stationed in Salem, Trevor, Bassett and Twin Lakes.
The collaborative is just for EMS and does not affect the operations of fire departments such as those in Randall, Wheatland and Twin Lakes.
The Wheatland board also approved a new contract with Twin Lakes Rescue, its current emergency medical services provider, for 2025 to cover the time before the collaborative kicks in. The cost for 2025 will be $225,000, a significant increase from 2024 but TL Rescue officials are committed to increasing station staffing to 24-7 in 2025. The contract was approved unanimously, Deuster said.
The Paddock Lake and Twin Lakes village boards have yet to consider the MOU. Salem Lakes approved the MOU last week and Randall also did so on Monday.
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.
