 - The Fremont County Association of Governments has formed a new advisory committee to evaluate “governance, organizational, and operational options for ground ambulance services within the region.”){kind=link}
(Fremont County, WY) – The Fremont County Association of Governments has formed a new advisory committee to evaluate “governance, organizational, and operational options for ground ambulance services within the region.”
According to its official charge, the new Regional Ambulance Service Evaluation Committee has been tasked with reviewing the current ambulance service model in Fremont County and developing recommendations “intended to improve service delivery, reliability, accountability, and long-term sustainability, including consideration of publicly governed service models where appropriate.”
The charge letter says the Committee’s work “shall include, but not be limited to,” the following areas of evaluation:
1. Review of the current contracted ground ambulance service model, including service delivery and operational performance.
2. Evaluation of governance and organizational structures for ambulance service provision.
3. Consideration of regional or multi-jurisdictional service models.
4. Analysis of financial sustainability and funding mechanisms.
5. Identification of potential pathways for enhanced public oversight or governance of ambulance services.
A draft report from the committee is due back to FCAG by May 28, and a final report must be delivered by July 9, according to the charge letter.
Members
The new committee includes two members of the already established Joint Committee on Funding Key Services, which recently recommended a .75 percent sales tax option be placed on primary election ballots this August to fund the local ambulance system, commercial air service, and public ground transportation: Mick Pryor (Hudson) and Lisa Mallon (Riverton).
FCAG Administrator Tim Nichols said Pryor and Mallon will be able to provide the new committee with the “institutional knowledge of all the research” the JCFKS has done on the local ambulance service over the past year.
Other committee members are Amanda Ysen (Dubois), Chris Konija (Shoshoni), Jared White Bull (Northern Arapaho Tribe), and Kim Lee (At-Large), but Nichols noted that more people may be appointed to the committee in the future to represent Pavillion, Lander, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, and Fremont County.
Frontier Ambulance Director of Operations Diane Lane will serve the committee in a designated advisory role, Nichols added, and Fremont County Commissioner Mike Jones will be the committee’s FCAG liaison.
The committee will be “very closely tied to the Commission” in other ways too, Nichols said, noting that the “final decision” about how to run the local ambulance service “lies with the county commission.”
“The work of this Committee should be undertaken in close coordination with Fremont County and the currently elected Board of County Commissioners,” Nichols said in an April 2 letter to the RASEC. “It is important that the Committee’s review, discussions, and any resulting recommendations remain informed by ongoing engagement with the County and the Commission so that this process reflects both sound evaluation and appropriate coordination with the governing body most directly connected to the present service framework.”
Further, the committee’s official charge emphasizes that the group “is advisory in nature,” so “while it shall provide recommendations to FCAG, it is expressly recognized that FCAG and each governing body retain their respective authority and autonomy.”
“Any action resulting from the Committee’s work that requires implementation, policy adoption, financial commitment, or structural change shall be subject to official approval by the appropriate governing body or bodies,” the charge letter states. “The Committee’s recommendations shall not bind FCAG or any member government absent such approval.”
The RASEC and the JCFKS will hold recurring joint meeting sessions each Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. at the Wind River Transportation Authority facility at 2554 Airport Road in Riverton.
The meetings will also be streamed live on Zoom.