Fisher River Valley trustees ask Lincoln County to press ambulance board on membership

Stuart Rismore, chairman of the Fisher River Valley Fire Service Area, told the Lincoln County commissioners the district’s fire-rescue crew has operated a licensed ground ambulance for years and asked the board to direct the county Ambulance Board to accept Fisher River Valley Fire and Rescue’s application for membership.

"I’m here today to request that the commissioners direct the county Ambulance Board to immediately accept Fisher River Valley Fire and Rescue application to the board," Rismore said. He told the commissioners the service has held a transport license (he cited 2006 and 2017 dates in different records) and is the only service that receives tone-for-tone dispatch within its service area.

Rismore said roughly 4–5% of the county’s property-tax assessments come from the Fisher River FSA but that the area receives minimal ambulance-fund reimbursements; the only regular payment he cited was a training reimbursement program that pays up to $1,000 a year and represents less than 1% of the county ambulance fund. He asked that the FSA have representation on the ambulance board so local taxpayers and responders have a voice in decisions about service area maps, funding and access to emergency resources.

Commissioners and attendees pressed for details about operations and finances. One commissioner asked whether the 911 transport count Rismore cited (26) referred to the full year or a year-to-date total; Rismore clarified the figure was for 2024. Officials also discussed billing arrangements and grant eligibility tied to a fire-department structure; Rismore said the FSA currently receives some grants because the ambulance is colocated with the fire service but that the unit’s membership on the ambulance board remains unresolved.

Rismore said Fisher River Valley had submitted an application and had not received a substantive response from the county ambulance board. He suggested one reason might be a five-year probationary period included in the ambulance board’s revised bylaws, which he said was introduced to test an applicant’s financial stability.

The commissioners did not take a formal vote on Rismore’s request during the meeting. Chair KT Tesy said the board would "find out what’s going on" and follow up with the ambulance board, and staff indicated they would inquire about the cause of the delay and any documentation withheld from the applicant.

Next steps: Commissioners asked staff to investigate the ambulance board’s decision-making and the status of Fisher River Valley’s application; no formal direction or binding action was recorded in the transcript.