Special City Council Meeting: EMS District Discussion
The Meadows Valley City Council held a special meeting on Thursday, August 14. Approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City and Meadows Valley School District for use of the new Youth Center for the half day preschool closed the meeting.
The bulk of the meeting included discussion regarding the Meadows Valley Fire District Commissioners proposed ambulance district.
Mayor Julie Good began explaining their purpose to talk to Meadows Valley Fire Commissioners (FC) as they are proposing the dissolution of the current ambulance district and the creation of a new ambulance district to be governed by a local board instead of the county. Some quiet discussions between the groups delayed the meeting’s start and Mayor Good clarified this was due to a miscommunication the City would take responsibility for. Due to the miscommunication, the FCs had not released a meeting agenda and therefore could not meet as a quorum at the table with the City Council. They compromised by having a designated spokesman at the table with City Council and traded out as needed.
After thank yous to the FCs as well as Fire & EMS members who keep the community safe, Mayor Good communicated that the City Council had some questions they hoped could be answered by this discussion so they could vote on approving next steps for the new ambulance district. She said they want to understand all of the information regarding the proposal and hoped the discussion would be the beginning of a great partnership between the City, Fire Department, and ambulance district that will guide them all through the growth that is coming.
FCs Amanda Branstetter, Tracy Peterson, and Keith Westengard nominated Branstetter as their representative. The Mayor asked what it meant to the FC’s to be “at the table” regarding ambulance district decisions. Branstetter explained that currently the Adams County Commissioners (BOCC) are the board for the ambulance district that services Meadows Valley. She said that while the fire department gets to make a lot of decisions regarding personnel, supplies, and management, the BOCC does not include them in decisions regarding growth and change in the county. Branstetter continued saying a seat at the table for them would include them in BOCC discussions on growth and change in the county, especially those affecting New Meadows. She said they see growth is coming and want to be ahead of that. She said they want to be involved at the beginning of the process so they can state the capabilities of what they can provide and figure out ahead of time how they can provide it.
The affirmation from both sides of the table was that the goal of all parties is to know what the public wants and work toward that. Overall, the discussion participants said they would like to work together to better communicate and be on the same page.
Much of the early discussion included talk of ambulance funds and fees and clarification on where the money received from an ambulance bill goes. Commissioner Westengard tagged in to answer saying if they get paid, the money goes into resupplying for fuel and used goods. He also clarified that they have set pricing for specific services, but it is difficult to project how many calls they will receive each year.
Notes given at past public meetings hosted by the fire district said Meadows Valley Fire District services over 50% of the Adams County population and that there has been a 100% increase in 911 calls for EMS and fire in the last 5 years. With a roster of 30 people, mostly volunteers, the papers said there is no guarantee how many people will be available at the time of an emergency call. The notes described the recreational and vacationer increase in population brings an additional 30,000 people to the valley annually which adds to the call volume.
Other questions during the meeting included clarification regarding potentially removing Brundage from the fire district and what impact that would have on taxes for New Meadows citizens. Commissioner Branstetter said they are still confirming the numbers, but so far the increase could be around $5,000 total for the entire area causing only a small increase per property owner.
Regarding development fees, growth, charges for services, and a potential growth formula, Branstetter reported that Chief Doug Buys was meeting with the Nampa Fire Department to learn what they are doing regarding growth and how they have provided more services as large developments continue to enter their area. Branstetter explained that when developments come in, if there is not a charge to the developer, the cost goes to the existing citizens at the beginning of the project.
Overall, Branstetter affirmed that the goal of the FCs is to make sure services can be provided, that there is access for the fire trucks to get to the developments, and that code is being followed properly.
Westengard jumped in to clarify in light of past conversations that they are not opposed to new developments, but want to ensure anything new is set up in a way that is safe for providing services. He also said that they are working on a formula they can use for determining fees for new developments to offset the cost to current residents and ensure future services. Branstetter continued later, noting they want everything to be black and white, clear and fair for all situations so that anyone would know steps for any project.
Mayor Good agreed that would be ideal for all parties involved and asked if the commissioners would be willing to give a plan to the city and keep it updated so they could incorporate it into the city zoning code and make it part of their required judicial review for new developments. She said this would help them give a true cost of development to interested parties and would be something they could present to developers from the start as well as help them enforce requests. Branstetter, and later Westengard, both said their goal was to come up with something like that as it would benefit everyone and provide clear communication. Branstetter said it benefits everyone when they work together.
Later on, Mayor Good said that the City would request a written statement saying the EMS District would sign an MOU with the City to be annually updated that would include specific fees for future developments so the City could add them to their zoning code. This could include impact or litigation fees for new developments, necessary paperwork, or plans review and inspection fees among other details. The Mayor also said they would love an MOU with both EMS and the Fire District.
Commissioner Westengard said he understood the request and that this is one of the things they mean when they say they want a seat at the table. He continued, we want the Fire Chief to be able to call up the building official and say I’m reviewing plans and need these changes made before moving forward. He said we want to work with you guys, we want to make things good for the community and for our whole district. Mayor Good affirmed, we want to work with you.
Mayor Good continued that they want an MOU in regards to the ambulance district saying, we know you have a timeline and we don’t want to hold that up, but we want to have a general MOU in place before we make the decision to approve. The ambulance district could communicate to new developments their current capacity and potential cost to increase it.
Branstetter said their intention with a new ambulance district is to have locally appointed board members so the chance of affected parties in the valley working together is much more likely. She said, ultimately our goal is to be more local and be able to join arms. Mayor Good responded that her concern as growth comes is that all involved parties are informed and have a plan in place. Branstetter replied, we would all rather be a little proactive rather than reactive.
Councilmember Traci Foster asked the commissioners what they need from the city and what the next steps were in this process. Branstetter detailed that the petition to go to the BOCC for a public hearing is full and they received 110 signatures compared to the required 50. Westengard said they will be looking to the City Council for a resolution approval so they can move forward and that the FCs would work on an MOU. Next, the County Clerk will check the petition signatures and then the Commissioners will publish their proposal for three weeks. If approved, there will be a public hearing at a BOCC meeting where they will make a next decision. Westengard said one Commissioner was quoted as saying they would approve the proposal “if that’s what the people want” and he hopes that will be true.
Branstetter said the whole goal of the Fire Commissioners with this proposal is to do what the public wants, what the community wants, not what we individually want. She said they want to do what the community wants and what is going to benefit all of us - as residents who live here, as members of the board, city council, everybody, so we want to work with our county commissioners to do what’s best for the ambulance district and the fire district.
All county and city meetings are open to the public unless otherwise posted. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 8 at 6:30 p.m. with a field trip at 6:00 p.m. The next Board of County Commissioners meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 8.
