Vermillion County approves $29,200 to settle Parisville ambulance housing dispute

Vermillion County’s commissioners and county council approved a $29,200 additional appropriation on March 31 to resolve what officials described as an outstanding balance owed to the Parisville Fire Department for hosting a temporary ambulance station that began in mid‑2024.

The dispute centers on a series of draft lease agreements and email negotiations in 2024 that, participants said, were never finalized and returned as signed. That left the county and Parisville with different expectations about whether the department should receive monthly lease payments and how construction and furnishing costs would be treated.

"I was not the vice president nor the president in 2024 and I was pretty much shut out of almost all discussions," RJ Donovan, identified in the record as president of the county commissioners, said while describing how earlier negotiations took place under the previous administration. Donovan urged resolving the issue through negotiation rather than litigation.

Council members and commissioners recalled an initial additional appropriation and a funding framework discussed in 2024 that included roughly $50,000 earmarked for building construction (to be shared by Parisville and Clinton), $5,000 for furnishings and $10,000 for utilities. Parisville officials said the department also contributed about $25,000 of its own LIT (local income tax) funds to renovate the facility.

Council member Kelly Somerville proposed a calculation that would treat the arrangement as a $1,500 per‑month lease for roughly 21 months, subtract payments already made and add an estimated increase in utilities; that approach produced a partial figure of about $15,150–$15,850 during debate. A motion to approve the smaller amount failed on a voice vote.

Speakers then returned to the larger, advertised additional appropriation and a motion to appropriate $29,200 "to appropriate the balance owed to Parisville Fire Department for housing, utilities, and etc." was made, seconded and approved. Meeting participants clarified the appropriation included furnishings that the county records showed had been purchased for the station.

County counsel and others cautioned that, because no signed contract was on file, Parisville could alternatively pursue a court claim under quantum meruit (payment for services rendered), which could expose the county to an uncertain judgment amount. Several officials said negotiation to reach a settled figure was preferable to litigation for both sides.

Officials also debated fairness to other volunteer departments. Some commissioners said paying Parisville a large additional amount could create expectations that other departments receive comparable supplements; others said that differences in circumstances and the county’s prior use of LIT funding for construction complicate an equalization argument.

Bill Peoples, a commissioner who spoke near the meeting’s end, criticized characterizations that the commissioners "dropped the ball" and said he was unaware of contractual issues before the meeting but supported finding a solution. "To say that the commissioners dropped the ball was a gross misstatement in my opinion," Peoples said.

The county approved the appropriation and directed involved officials to follow up on any outstanding documentation and reconcile utility invoices. The appropriation does not itself create or substitute for a signed lease; the motion and vote addressed the advertised additional appropriation that had been brought to the joint meeting.

Next steps: commissioners said Parisville’s representative would take the outcome back to his board for confirmation of details, and the county would continue gathering utility records and receipts to finalize the exact owed amounts.