Ambulance Council approves new two-year contract

The Chickasaw Ambulance Council unanimously approved a two-year contract with the county's current ambulance provider during a meeting Tuesday evening in which council members also approved a budget and a rental agreement to house two ambulances.
Tuesday's meeting got off to a rocky start when Bassett Mayor Jim Ashley and Chickasaw Ambulance Service owner Jeremy McGrath argued over Ashley's contention that McGrath owned a "part-time service," but cooler heads soon prevailed.
"I want to thank Jeremy for being willing to work with us," said Supervisor Jacob Hackman, who represents the county on the Ambulance Council, "and I'd like to thank this council for keeping it civil and working to get to an agreement. This is a move forward for the citizens of Chickasaw County."
The county currently holds the current contract with the service, one that saw Chickasaw County provide $165,000 to the service in fiscal year 2020 and $195,000 to the service in fiscal 2021, which ends June 30.
But the current contract was the one that led to the county filing a lawsuit against the cities. 
That suit was dismissed earlier this year after the county and the cities reached a settlement agreement that led to the formation of a new Ambulance Council that represents all nine governmental entities but has only five voting members — one from the county, one from New Hampton, one from the cities of Fredericksburg and Nashua, one from the county's four smaller cities and one representing all nine entities.
Also on Tuesday, the Ambulance Council approved a $250,000 budget for next year. A vast majority of those funds will go to pay the contract. Another $16,500 will go toward "professional services," $15,000 is earmarked for renting a building to house the two ambulances and $1,000 is slated for legal notices and publications.
For years, the service has been given two stalls at the New Hampton Police Department garage to use for free, but on Monday night, the New Hampton City Council offered to rent the stalls the Ambulance Council for $21,186.
Hackman told fellow Ambulance Council members that he had met with McGrath earlier in the day and presented an agreement in which the council would rent garage space from McGrath and his wife, who own a building on North Water Street, just off of New Hampton's downtown area. 
New Hampton mayor Bobby Schwickerath told council members that the city was willing to "negotiate" its offer, but the Ambulance Council decided to accept McGrath's offer.
— For more on this story, see the March 18 Reporter and the March 23 Tribune