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Lewiston council approves two agreements expanding emergency-medical coverage across the river after extended debate
Summary
After extended questioning about usage and cost-sharing, the Lewiston City Council approved two intergovernmental agreements to extend ambulance and rural EMS coverage into neighboring areas and to formalize cost-sharing that ties annual adjustments to state ground-transport data.
The Lewiston City Council on Monday approved two intergovernmental agreements to extend emergency-medical coverage beyond city limits and to formalize a call-based cost-sharing model with neighboring agencies.
Chief Greg Reitmeier, Lewiston's fire and EMS chief, told the council the contracts use the state's ground emergency medical transport (GMT) data for annual cost adjustments rather than a fixed inflation increment. “Any increase in our personnel costs, our cost of medical supplies, fuel, heat, air, anything is all submitted annually as part of our ground emergency medical transport data package,” Reitmeier said.
One contract (Resolution 2025‑48) governs rural EMS service in sparsely populated districts and was described as a service agreement; Reitmeier said the GMT-based calculation accounts for staffing, supplies and other operating costs and is applied to the current year. Councilors pressed for clarity on whether increases would be retroactive and how the calculation appears in contract exhibits; Reitmeier said the method is documented in an exhibit and not applied retroactively.
The second contract (Resolution 2025‑49) is a cost-allocation partnership with the county fire protection district that stations an ambulance in a county facility while sharing operating costs. Reitmeier said the city's analysis looks at call counts and usage percentages and includes a trigger for an annual review if usage shifts materially. “We looked at that and said, is each person that's using it paying close to what they use it for?” he said, describing a reproducible call-based study the city can revisit year to year.
Some councilors expressed concern that the primary users of the unit are county residents rather than Lewiston residents; Reitmeier noted the stationed unit runs many county calls but also provides faster response for about 500 Lewiston households near the district. “They're using it 70%,” he said of county calls, “we're using it 20%,” and added that contracting revenue helps offset roughly $800,000 a year the city would otherwise need to staff and house the unit.
Both resolutions passed on recorded votes with a single councilor dissenting on each, after council discussion that ranged over response-time trade-offs, reserve funding and the city's responsibility to protect taxpayer dollars.
Next steps: the mayor is authorized to sign the agreements and staff will deliver the annual usage reports and any contract-triggered reviews to the council.
