City officials mostly mum following private meeting about DC Ambulance’s future

The future of the Dodge Center Ambulance has been a point of discussion for several months for city officials from Claremont, Kasson, Dodge Center, and Mantorville, the communities’ part of the Dodge Center Ambulance Primary Service Area.

With issues related to funding, the discussions have centered around the potential creation of a taxing district, to be able to raise and appropriate the needed funds to keep the ambulance going.

On Thursday, Sept. 19, another private meeting, consisting of officials from those communities took place. A request by the Dodge County Independent to attend the meeting was declined due to the meeting not being considered a public meeting, under the Open Meeting Act.

Voting Power

As of earlier this month, negotiations have all but seemed to have broken down with Kasson officials calling for the city to get additional voting power, due to the size of the community, while at least one community, Claremont, says it could have the potential to create trouble, and at this point, has no interest in allowing it.

If all four communities do not agree to take the framework of the proposed taxing district to a vote by its respective city councils, or if the councils don’t agree, then well, there could be the possibility the ambulance doesn’t continue much longer.

“There are possible bad consequences. I don’t want to start threatening the bad consequences as a given but there out there and they could happen,” Dodge Center City Administrator Lee Mattson told the DCI previously, ahead of the Sept. 19 meeting.

Following the meeting, the DCI reached out to representatives from Claremont, and Kasson, along with Mattson, and Dodge Center Ambulance Director AJ Gengler, none of which provided specific details, about any compromises which may or may have not been made, or if any specific proposals are on the table.

Claremont Mayor Tasha Dahl, in an interview ahead of the Sept. 19 meeting, explained her city council’s objection to a weighted voting system isn’t about Kasson, but rather the big picture.

“The standpoint that the Claremont Council is taking at this time is we don’t feel any city should have any additional voting rights, that every city should have equal voting power, and really the backbone to that is more in line with the stance that some point in time there is always the potential that you get put in a position where there’s an opportunity to be on the board to be there without the best intent,” she said.

Following the meeting, Claremont City Administrator Liz Sorg declined to comment.

“This matter will go before the city council at our next meeting which is Oct.1, so until after that meeting City Hall cannot comment on it,” she wrote in an email.

Dahl, ahead of the meeting, explained the concern is, if a community has additional voting power, it would essentially only take one other community to agree with them, in order to pass or reject any item before the taxing district.

“It’s not directed towards Kasson specifically,” Dahl said. “We’re looking broad picture, so we don’t feel any city should have additional voting power.”

For example, she said if a city had more voting power, and they convinced one other voting member to stand with them that regardless of what the item is “the answer is no” for replacing needed equipment then it could put the Ambulance in a bad position.

It goes the other way, as well, Dahl said, noting a community could decide it wants to make “lavish” expenditures, have one other community agree, and then the rest of the cities are stuck with the costs.

In a Sept. 9 Dodge Center Council agenda, Mattson wrote a memo stating “A meeting of the four cities involved in the creation of the taxing district was held in August and there is an impasse over the assignment of votes to the taxing district. Kasson has indicated that they require two votes on the board to participate in the district.”

“Dodge Center has indicated that we are open to allowing Kasson to have a tiebreaker or two votes on the taxing district board,” the memo stated. “Mantorville has not taken a position on voting power and Claremont has said they will not participate in a taxing district if Kasson receives more votes than them. A second meeting was set for September 19 and reports from Kasson and Claremont indicate that their respective positions are hardening, jeopardizing the formation of the district. At present there appears to be no compromise that would satisfy both parties.”

‘Complex Situation’

The Kasson City Council is expected to discuss the issue during its Wednesday, Sept. 25, meeting.

Following a phone interview, Thursday afternoon, Kasson City Administrator provided the DCI with a memo he wrote ahead of the Sept. 25 meeting.

“Councilmember Ferris and I attended a meeting with other representatives from Dodge County communities,” Ibisch wrote. “It’s clear that there are some disagreements on precisely the desired set-up and the way the Board would be run. Councilmember Ferris and I both tried to clearly indicate that the Kasson Council felt its residents should be fully represented. As you know Kasson residents would be paying a majority of taxes generated for this district. Included in tonight’s packet is a breakdown of those estimates and where they would be potentially derived from. I expect to have a good conversation, and I am interested in any input you may have.”

Ibisch was then asked if there were any compromises made during the private meetings, about who should get what share of the votes, if a taxing district was created.

“It’s a complex situation, and I think that all of the parties involved now have a very good understanding of what the other cities perspectives are,” Ibisch wrote. “I don’t have anything new to add right now, but as I mentioned yesterday, the City Council will be discussing this issue on Wednesday next week.”

When asked when public meetings would be taking place on the issue, Ibisch Friday morning wrote: “Public hearings for the Ambulance item? No, Lee Mattson with Dodge Center Ambulance would be the best point of contact on anything related to that. I don’t know if this district is created what would be required, Lee might be able to tell you.”

Ibisch was also asked what steps would need to be taken by the Kasson City Council in order to ratify the taxing district.

“I don’t know, that would definitely be a question for Dodge Center Ambulance and the attorneys that they have drawing this up,” Ibisch wrote. “The steps for ratifying the district have not been discussed as far as I know.”

Numerous emails sent to Mattson have gone unreturned, at the time of publication.

Revenue is Needed

The biggest reason for why Dodge Center Ambulance is looking to secure a taxing district is to be able to get support from the community in terms of revenue.

Currently, Dodge Center and Kasson give a few thousand dollars a year, otherwise, all funding comes essentially from billing insurance.

But insurance, specifically Medicare, doesn’t pay its fair share, Gengler previously explained.

Dodge Center billed roughly $1.7 million two years ago and only received $650,000 in cash, which causes concern about the long-term plan.

“You can send a $2,000 bill and you maybe will get $400 or $500 if you’re lucky from that bill,” Gengler said about reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.

With 60 to 70% of rural EMS calls being those patients, Gengler knows other ways to generate revenue are needed.

It led to issues with operating costs, even forcing the Ambulance recently to cut a full-time staff position, to help even the operating costs, getting it back to a break-even point. The Ambulance is able to do so due to having 14,000 volunteer hours last year.

But when it comes to long term investments, specifically equipment, the lack of funding doesn’t allow for the Ambulance to pay for it, which is the main goal for now, of the Taxing District.

When asked for comment for this story, Gengler responded: “Everyone will be talking at their council meetings about this in depth. I think your best option will be to attend or listen to these meetings as they happen over the next couple weeks.”

No Signs of Surrendering

Ahead of the Sept. 19 meeting, Mattson was pressed on what the next step is, if negotiations break down at the Sept. 19 meeting, saying he would go back to the Dodge Center City Council and ask how they want to proceed.

“Our council is frustrated too that… discussions continue, and we are not sure if all the parties are going to come to an agreement about how we should move forward,” Mattson said.

All options would be on the table including giving up on its ambulance altogether, although Mattson said they aren’t giving ultimatums at this point, saying his hope is negotiations could yield some sort of agreement between all the different communities.

“That’s not off the table. I think it’s unlikely in the short term, but it’s one more step in that direction,” Mattson said.

He added: “I think it’s most likely in my opinion that if it all falls apart that we wait and see what the state’s going to do this year before we make a final decision.”

But as Dahl noted, before Sept. 19, there currently wasn’t an appetite by Claremont’s City Council to give up any of its voting power, in order to secure a deal.

“At this point there’s no vision of surrendering,” she said ahead of the meeting.