The proposal for implementing EMS as an essential service was approved Tuesday by the Webster County Board of Supervisors.

Voters approved a dedicated tax of 75 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value to fund EMS annually in March.

Tuesday’s approval was to move forward with the Webster County EMS Advisory Council’s proposal following that vote for sharing agreements, an EMS coordinator position, and a determination on how funding would be divided between rural agencies.

“Patient care is the No. 1 priority of this whole thing,” Fort Dodge Fire Chief Matt Price told supervisors. “We’re trying to better patient care. There’s a lot of money involved with response systems and such, but patient care is the No. 1 priority. Our sustainability for EMS in the county is suffering. No one’s fault, but we’re struggling financially to provide equipment. Staffing isn’t what it should be. We need to prioritize staffed ambulances to cover the county and prioritize non-transport EMS providers and first responders in all communities. We need to get people there to get people to the hospital, and we need to make sure that we get people there in a timely manner.”

According to Price, the EMS advisory committee estimated a $1.6 million budget for the first year, based on a 95 percent collection rate for taxes.

The council allocated $100,000 for the EMS coordinator position and $100,000 for non-transport services, which are volunteer fire departments that respond to medical emergencies but do not have ambulances.

The remaining $1,402,339 would be divided between transport services, with the Dayton Rescue Squad receiving 10 percent, or $140,234; Southwest Webster Emergency Medical Service receiving 14 percent, or $196,327; and Fort Dodge Fire Department receiving 76 percent, or $1,065,778.

The funding formula for transport services was based on transport district area valuations and coverage area valuations.

According to the proposal, each agency will have a fund within the EMS budget which is managed by the county auditor. Funds may roll over annually if performance requirements are met as set by the EMS Advisory Council.

Agencies will be able to submit eligible claims for pre-purchase or request reimbursement for direct purchases. The EMS coordinator or a county designee will process claims through the Auditor’s Office. All requests above $10,000 will be reviewed by the council on a case-by-case basis.

In the proposal, the EMS coordinator would work under the EMS Advisory Council and medical director. They would also coordinate the Webster County EMS system and serve as a senior advisor to service directors. The EMS coordinator would be responsible for overseeing reports and billing practices, serve as a liaison with vendors, agencies, hospital committees, and the medical director, assist agencies in managing supplies, equipment, and purchasing, developing training, maintaining records and certifications, and ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations.

Supervisor John Cochrane told Price that he didn’t agree with the funds being based on property taxes, which is how the funding was proposed to voters in March — a dedicated tax of 75 cents per $1,000 of taxable property value.

“I’m still very uncomfortable basing funding on property tax alone,” said Cochrane. “But from what I’m hearing, things are still in flux and we’re still negotiating.”

Webster County Attorney Darren Driscoll said that the proposal could be negotiated in year two but the proposal provided Tuesday was for year one.

“In my district, if the citizens would have known that their tax dollars were going to go to Fort Dodge, I don’t think it would have passed,” said Supervisor Nathan Montgomery. “Doing it on a taxable basis per property value is a good point going forward because it wouldn’t have passed otherwise in my opinion.”

“I know we need to start somewhere and I’m willing to go that route to start,” said Supervisor Bob Thode. “But I guess my issue with the way we’re doing this is if someone lives in the Gowrie district and ends up in the Fort Dodge district, it’s the taxpayers from Fort Dodge who are basically going to be paying to take care of this person. I think we need to go on a needs basis. Wherever that money is needed is where we need to concentrate. I want to make sure that the first responders have the equipment that they need. I’m willing to go forward with it as it is because of our discussions and knowing we have to get the ball rolling.”

Otho Fire Chief Marty Smith told the supervisors that Otho Fire and Rescue has been providing ambulance services to the community since February and meeting 90 percent of calls.

“Based on today’s proposal, we would be treated as a non-transport entity for the first year of this program and not change to a transport agency until after the first year,” said Smith. “I don’t agree with that at all. We’ve indicated and performed from the beginning that we were going to be a transport agency, and we are now. I feel like we need to be included as a transport agency and funded as one as well.”

“If we set the framework today and this is what we’re going to move with, we don’t necessarily have to lock it in for a year,” replied Price. “If we can get our last EMS Advisory Council meeting, we asked Otho and Marty to bring us a proposal to the next meeting which is in a few weeks. If we can get that and evaluate it in October before we do any sort of movement, maybe we can include that.”

Smith said that a proposal will be ready for the EMS Advisory Council at the next meeting.

The EMS proposal was approved unanimously by the supervisors. The sharing agreement template was also approved by the supervisors, as was the creation of the EMS coordinator role.

Also at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting, the board approved the final pay application for the Dayton Trail project. The board approved payment of $26,542.38 to Rasch Construction, of Fort Dodge.

The board also approved transfer of the animal pound from Ashleigh Bogardus to Webster County Animal Protection. The agreement is a five-year contract, which is only for the pound and is separate from the contract for animal control.

The board also heard from Scott Underberg and Matt Johnson, who gave a presentation about a redevelopment plan for a law enforcement center. The pair suggested that they would purchase the former Land O’Lakes building, 2827 Eighth Ave. S, convert it to a jail, and lease it to the county. They said Webster County would then pay rent on the building as well as maintenance and capital improvements.

Underberg said that they had not discussed the idea yet with law enforcement leaders or architects.

“It’s basically taking private money and redeveloping it into a jail so then the county doesn’t have to come up with the tens of millions of dollars and voter referendums and all of that,” said Johnson.

Underberg called the concept “rudimentary” and said that he believes the facility could potentially house 150 inmates. He stated that the facility would be built by private investors and potentially cost between $16 million and $22 million.

“What we would propose is to do a base lease with the county for the facility once it’s built,” said Underberg. “The rent would be about $195,000 a month which comes to $2.34 million a year. There would be an escalator every year, and we’d keep a capital reserve of our money here to make sure we’re being responsible.”

Supervisor Niki Conrad asked Underberg about maintenance and capital projects at the location.

Underberg said that maintenance would be at the cost of the county. “You treat it like you own it,” Underberg said.

“But we don’t own it, so I have a lot of heartburn about taking the county in a private facility and private investors making money off of the taxpayers,” Conrad said. “I have some heartburn about that. You said several times that this is a very rudimentary proposal. I’d be interested if you’d talk first to the people who would actually be using this building. $2.34 million a year is still a hefty amount. If you’re serious about this and the law enforcement people that would be working in it and using the space would be interested, I’d want their buy-in as well. But I would also want very specific dollar amounts and very specific formulas as to why these dollar amounts were brought to us, including engineering and architectural plans. I think this is very rudimentary and I’m glad you brought it to us. I like creative thinking.”

“We want to plan it together,” said Underberg. “Our Better Way project is about making the community better, and honestly, we have a real problem right now. Jail space causes more problems than I think people know.”