Lennox Ambulance group continues work on joint operating agreement

The Lennox Ambulance Joint Committee planning meeting was held Wednesday, Sept. 20. Committee members discussed agenda items including a review of the project status and a joint operating agreement. 

City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats gave an update since the last meeting. 

“Up to this point the meetings have been about the direction we’re moving. I’ve been lucky to be a part of many of those discussions along with Ambulance Director, Alan Perry, as well. I’m particularly grateful to the City of Tea and to Lincoln County Commissioner Otten for moving this item forward with some bold steps to participate in the effort and fund the effort. Those were definitive steps in the right directions and I think if you were to look at the financial models, those are going to be difference makers in how we move forward,” he said. 

Vander Plaats’ goal of the meeting was to establish framework for how the ambulance district will work in the next 93 days. 

“We’d like to leave this meeting tonight with any substantive changes that need to be made to that operating agreement and just as importantly how we want to structure the views of the jurisdictions involved in the effort,” he said. 

The question arose if the tax district had been taken off the table. 

“Yeah, at the township meeting with the County we talked about this when we were working through how to make this happen and former commissioner Betty Otten was leading that discussion. She had encouraged us to move this direction and we continued until it became clear that there was not going to be support for a tax district this year,” he responded. 

VanderPlaats reported to the board that the group has met previously and talked about population base and call volume base districts that include a mix of readiness and cost of service. 

“The numbers we’ve thrown out there to date have all pretty much been based on population knowing that it’s not going to end up just being based on population and we anticipate a mix of the two,” he said. 

VanderPlaats presented the joint operating agreement. 

“That agreement has been circulated to you previously, and the version in front of you tonight includes suggested edits from Lincoln County States’ Attorney. Tonight’s task is go to through each section for comments and discussion so that we can end the evening with a clear understanding of any changes to be made. The base agreement comes from Spink County, they have an agreement with their ambulance service that has served as a kind of a base of operations for how this got started,” Vander Plaats said. 

Vander Plaats proposed a Joint Advisory Committee. 

“This section is meant to bridge the gap between the desire for a separate operating board, the City of Lennox having sole oversight, and the reality of an unknown funding future with the State of South Dakota. While a separate organization is certainly a possibility, the unknown future of what the state may or may not do throws a wrench in that plan. At the same time, the poll and previous discussions reveal some interest in a higher level of oversight on the part of the partners beyond simply having an agreement and leaving the rest up to the City of Lennox. This Advisory Committee offers a way to provide some level of governance over the agreement and operations. I recommend discussing the duties/responsibilities of this board,” he said. 

How do we handle issues that are ambulance specific costs like ambulances or merit awards that should be a certain groups decision and not a Lennox City Council decision asked Chad Swier. 

“What if another town comes in and makes another ambulance district? It’s a possibility,” said one of the members. “I suppose it’s a possibility, but not a likely possibility,” Vander Plaats said. 

Extensive discussion was held on a $60,000 financial contribution provided by Lincoln County to support the Lennox Ambulance service and how the money is being distributed. Several members of the committee including the Mayor of Worthing, expressed their concerns about fairness with the allocation noting that municipal citizens also pay county taxes and should see a benefit or have the funding distributed more broadly across all tax bases.

The committee agreed a fair way to distribute operational costs would be through a base charge plus call volume approach which would attach a fixed cost required to keep the ambulance service operational, regardless of the number of calls received. The group agreed to do further research into the money provided from the county and meet again when financial contribution distribution explanations have been acquired.