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Fennimore council weighs EMS service models; ad-hoc committee to continue review
Summary
An EMS ad-hoc committee presented three options for how the city could organize emergency medical services — a contract with the EMS including financial oversight, hiring a full-time EMS director, or contracting services out — and the council scheduled further discussion without taking a formal vote.
At the April 21 organizational meeting, EMS ad-hoc committee members Sarah Kretschman and Adam Day presented three potential models for the future of Fennimore’s emergency medical services.
Option one would formalize a contract between the City and the EMS that includes financial oversight and an independent audit; committee members noted the start and end dates of such a contract were not yet defined. Option two would have the city hire a full-time EMS director — similar to a model used by Lancaster — with a defined job description focused on recruitment and retention so the EMS would maintain full-time staffing. Option three would outsource EMS through a contract with an external provider; committee members said costs and likely effects on response times for that model were currently unknown.
Committee members and councilors did not vote on a preferred model at the meeting. Instead, the council scheduled another meeting to continue the discussion and consider detailed cost and operational information before taking formal action.
Council members repeatedly emphasized the need for clarity on cost, oversight and response-time implications before committing to a structural change. No formal motion or vote on an EMS model was recorded in the minutes.
