How and if to have a county-operated ambulance service will be the topic of a work session in Washington County. On Monday, the County Board of Supervisors will hold a work session on the issue. At Tuesday’s board meeting, Supervisor Jack Seward explained the three things they’ll be looking at, “First is to try to identify startup costs if we decided to go that route. The second one is an overview of the sustaining operating costs after the startup. And the third one is an estimate of what an additional ambulance might cost us comparing new equipment versus used or refurbished equipment.”

Last week, the board received two letters in support of having a county-operated ambulance service: one was from the county’s emergency medical service organization and another from the city administrators of Washington, Kalona, Riverside, and Wellman. The topic is being discussed because the current contract expires June 30th, 2020 and last spring a request for proposal for new services was not fruitful. Ambulances are not considered an essential service, like fire departments and law enforcement, and do not receive state funding.

The ambulance workshop begins at 10 a.m. at the courthouse.