Unanimously, the Washington County Board of Supervisors officially voted to have a county-operated ambulance service. At their meeting Tuesday, an update from the ambulance advisory committee was presented, including budget estimates and the recommendation to officially have a directive and move toward hiring a director, if that’s the direction the supervisors wanted to take. Concerns of the timeline and moving quickly were brought up, to which Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh who serves on the advisory committee said, “This is to kind of to get this thing, July 1 ready to go out the door. Because, and I hate to stress the urgency, and you’re going to hear it in our voices quite a bit, right now you guys own two ambulances and five LUCAS devices. That’s what you own. So let’s create a department around two ambulances and five LUCAS devices, that’s what we’re being asked to do and we’re all willing to do that. But we’ve got to take some steps quickly. Not that there’s a huge leap of faith, but you know we’re putting our best foot forward with a budget so that you guys can make some decisions.”

Some of the steps to take before the current contract expires on June 30, 2020 include hiring a director, budgeting, acquiring licenses and billing procedures, and finding equipment. The motion was made to establish a county-operated department and it was approved with all five supervisors voting in support of it. Next week, the job description for an ambulance director will be on the agenda for consideration. The goal is to have a hire by early January.