City to stick with Bonner County EMS

SANDPOINT — The city is sticking with the status quo for emergency medical services.

The city solicited requests for proposals from entities and businesses interested in providing EMS services within city limits earlier this fall. Bonner County currently provides that service and city officials were curious to know if better alternatives existed.

But Mayor Gretchen Hellar said there is still too much uncertainty concerning potential changes to EMS governance that could come up through the Legislature.

“With the question of what’s happening legislatively, we just thought were probably putting the cart before the horse,” said Hellar.

There’s also the matter of EMS tax dollars that are already being collected from city residents by the county, Hellar said.

Bonner County officials said they would not turn over the tax revenue if the city utilized another provider.

Hellar said nearly a dozen organizations expressed interest in submitting proposals, but only a few made inquiries and only one — Westside Fire District — actually submitted one.

Bonner County EMS officials pledged to submit a proposal, but ultimately did not. Bonner EMS spokesman Bob Abbott said the county declined to submit a proposal because the request contained too many conditions that would have stripped authority away from the county.

The city’s move to seek service proposals followed a period of internal unrest within Bonner County EMS and a falling out with the Sandpoint Fire Department.

The fire department and county had agreed earlier this year to collaboratively provide EMS services, but the arrangement soured when the county moved EMS headquarters from Kootenai to Sandpoint.

Hellar said the request for proposals was not politically motivated.

“Politics aside, when it comes down to this it’s strictly a business decision. That’s what I’m looking at,” she said.

Bonner EMS Chief Rob Wakeley everyone in the organization understands and appreciates that it operates within the city with the blessing and permission of its elected officials.

“We are grateful that the city has decided to allow us to continue providing this valuable service to their citizens and we will continue to work hard to ear their continued trust and confidence,” Wakeley said.