Fire chief urges partner outreach for two swing ambulance positions; council debates who will pay

At the Feb. 18 Gardiner City Council meeting, Fire Chief Rick Seberg outlined growing call volume, frequent "back-to-back" ambulance responses and results from a 2021 pilot that showed benefits to added staffing. Seberg asked the council for backing to pursue adding two swing positions to improve coverage for ambulances and fire apparatus and to consult partner towns on cost-sharing.

Seberg described the operational problem: overlapping calls can leave the station empty and lengthen response times. He said the 2021 pilot demonstrated the value of higher staffing levels, and that the department has since expanded shift staffing but still sees frequent gaps. "The call volume just keeps increasing year after year," Seberg said, summarizing the operational need.

Councilors expressed support for addressing coverage but pressed on financing. Councilor Ken Holmes said he would support additional staffing only if the ambulance service budget or partner-town shares bore the full incremental cost, rather than shifting sizable costs into Gardiner's municipal fire budget. Holmes noted the current funding formula is moving toward an 80/20 ambulance-to-municipal split over five years and asked whether the council could accelerate that transition.

Seberg and Interim City Manager Denise Brown said they would meet with partner towns and report back; Seberg said discussions with partner communities are already scheduled and that the change requires buy-in from all participants. Councilors stressed they were not voting on hiring tonight but were authorizing staff to continue outreach. Several councilors emphasized public-safety risks from insufficient on-duty staffing and urged timely negotiation on cost-sharing.

The council left the matter open for further talks with partner towns and budget planning; no formal hiring vote occurred at the meeting.