Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. It's a special city council meeting of the city of International Falls. It's 6:01 p.m. on July 14th. Please rise and we will say the pledge.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
There's a lot of discussion going on. I know that there's a lot of emotion in the room. We will work hard to get through the meeting and make sure that everyone who would like to be heard. Thank you. Um please note for roll call that all members of the council are
present for this evening's for this evening's meeting. Excuse me. I'd like to clarify something. This is not a meeting to dissolve the ambulance service that I am aware of and
was never scheduled to do such. If you're a citizen or a news outlet has suggested this or anyone from staff or a department head, that would be inaccurate.
I will add that dissolving the service could happen but is very likely not the outcome as the service that we currently provide is too important to our community. At this time we have I believe several
um officials that have been elected to serve other municipalities that I would like to invite them forward to speak at this time. anywhere. Yeah. Right there. Yeah. Yes.
You want me to go first? Please. And Mayor Wagner of Reineer, thank you for attending. Uh Dennis Wagner, mayor of Reineer, I'm here representing the citizens of Reineer. And uh what I got to say is is there a fivem minute limit on what we we're
saying here or something like that? Usually we usually would not uh hold that for someone like short anyway. Uh it well it's come to my attention a friend of mine from Biji uh phoned me and asked me what was Reineer doing trying to not pay
its share of the ambulance service and I said well that's not quite accurate. Uh the city council of Vineer has discussed this in depth quite quite often and and with a lot of research into it and our position on this
particular item here or issue uh because the taxing district was proposed to us and our take on that was that uh the city of International Falls who operates as we know operates the ambulance
district um includes Rineer also part of Cooch County, St. Louis County, such and such. But uh years ago when our speaker of the house Anderson and Governor Rudy Burbage, uh Dave Thomas, uh Dave Thomas,
Tom Bach, and Doug Johnson from Cook got together and they formed a a bill called LGA, local government aid. And I've talked in depth to Tom Bach about this and I had years ago I talked to Irv about this and the reason for that was
to help small cities and what they did with that is there's formulas made for what they're not but what they looked at is cities like international falls and hibin were considered hub
cities which mainly were to buy provide services that outlining small communities could utilize and act and because of that they were add they
were granted additional funding uh for such as uh we don't need two libraries we don't need two airports uh we don't need two ambulance services so but who has to provide them certainly has a financial responsibility so they
allocated additional monies to those particular cities to apply those services. So, I don't know if the council's aware of it or the citizens of International Falls are aware of it, but International Falls currently receives 4,937,482
almost $5 million. In respect, Ray receives 68,000. And the idea is, well, why do they get so much and we get so little? It's, you know, it's nine times per capita which
each person gets. Well, they have to pay for the airport. They have to pay for the ambulance. They have to pay for the library. Those are your main expenditures. And what the what the legislators did at that time, they said, "Well, not every city has an airport.
Not every city has libraries. They have pools. They have um hockey hall of fames, things like that." So what they did is they said, "We'll just put this money, give it to the city in their general funds and let them disperse it to wherever they need it." And of
course, they're supposed to pay for the ambulance. They're supposed to pay for the um all these funds. And then the additional monies are left to operate general funies like we get $68,000. We don't have no library. We don't pay for the airport. So we use the $68,000 to
pay for a lawn keeper or whatever we use it for. You guys have City of International Falls. If you would have paid your ambience bill, and I'm not correct on this, but your budget is about one 1.6 million, something like that, and you
spend about 350 to three 400,000 for the library and the airport, you spend another, you know, 300,000 bucks on. So, it's less than 2.5 million. So you spend less than 2.5 million on the services
that these people, our legislators when they gave you that money or the formula said, "Well, that's what they'll they'll provide that." But then they still got the 200 2.5 million to you pay police departments pay for lawn keeping
whatever you use for general administration which is still five times what the citizens of Rineer got. So this idea that Rineer is not paying their share for the airport. I had the same
argument years ago with June Jackson. Uh you've been paid for it. you've been given the money from the state in advance and what you did with it, it's in the general fund. I don't know, but I know you were supposed to pay these
bills and instead you must have used it elsewhere if you run into the deficit in the ambulance funds. And so I just want to make clear that we're not against the ambulance service for certain. And and I've been an advocate. I bent over backwards with hoschild trying to, you
know, advocate for some kind of a taxing district or some kind of relief for the city of all these cities are having issues. But the real issue is they've been given the money for it. It's like been given money to take your kids out to dinner with and you must have spent
it on beer because now you're asking the kids to pay for it. we're not going to the city of city city of Rainer said you've been given the money and so use it wisely and they didn't so I don't want to let everybody know that Rineer
is not paying their share the state paid it for us okay and that's my position on this and I'd like to say I do have some ideas uh for the city how I think maybe they could help on some of their budgetary items but I don't want to
bring it up at a public I'd be glad to meet with council and the mayor and give you some ideas and let you think, you know, take them for what they're worth. But I do have some ideas what I think could help some of your budgetary problems. That's all I have to say. And I just want to make it clear that Rainer
is supports these districts and all all these services, but let's make it clear that we've paid our share. Our share has been paid for us and we're not freeloaders. Thank you. Thank you, mayor.
At this time, if there are any other elected officers from a political subdivision that would like to come forward and speak. Seeing that there has not been um at
this time I think it would be best that we move the audience open form or public comment to the beginning of the meeting. Uh it would be limited to three minutes. Excuse me. I think that would not be a good idea. I
think that it would be important for us to hear your point so that we can respond to it. I will continue with the agenda as proposed. I have some talking points that I have shared with the council prior to the
meeting and there is also a screen share on the television screen that Mrs. Riggs uh has up there. So, I will this might be a little bit rudimentary, but I'll just kind of point and that'll go about
its way. Uh, I'd like to I'm the new mayor of town. I've been elected for six or seven months and I serve with this council. Uh, so when I give a history uh of some of this uh to the council, please chime in at at any time because
some of it is generalities. A brief history of the service uh to my recollection was that the hospital had the service and provided that service for some time. uh there was an issue with providing the service at the
hospital and at that time the certificate to provide the ambulance service was taken over by the city of international falls and then the move much later on to what we currently offer which is part-time advanced life support
service. In the beginning, a BLS ambulance model with EMT teams was used and this was a profitable model for the city. It was sold to the community as a way to buy down the cost of service and have
fantastic fire and ambulance coverage at a very reasonable cost. I believe around 2012, the service went to an ALSbased model in which to the best of our knowledge, fire
and EMS chief at the time, Jerry Jensen, approached the Cooching County Board Chairman Wade Pavick, about a special taxing district to support the service. The Cooching County Board declined.
There was also a study done of some sort that indicated what may be the outcomes of providing greater service at that time. Almost immediately the service went from running in the black to the red the
accumulated fund balance deficit of the ambulance service in approximately the 2017 2018 time frame. Um, and we have some former city councilors here as well that were involved in that process.
The International Fall City Council petitioned the Cooching County Board to provide an emergency taxing district for EMS service. After talks of a year or two, it fell apart and nothing was accomplished.
The city of Rineer declined and adopted a council resolution stating such that they would not participate. The city went back to providing the wonderful service that we've always provided and in a deficit.
The city continued providing the same ALS service through COVID and through today and the service has generally still operated in a deficit. In the October in October 2023,
councelor Pete Kaylor tasked administrator Bergstrom and Chief Manassa to come up with solutions and also provide solutions to continue the ambulance service and relieve the citizens of the accumulated fund
deficit. To date, the council has not been provided with viable solutions for continuing service without a large tax levy increase. Um, at this time
using what is offered on the screen here, I would like to discuss what is going on, what the council is currently dealing with and what we have
to deal with and want to make sure that those here in the community understand how the ambulance deficit is working. the way that the books have been kept for the ambulance service and in no way is there any statement that anything is
wrong. It's just how this has been done is that when the ambulance service was unable to pay for itself, the city's general fund supplied the cash to the ambulance service and the ambulance service continued to
run in the red. The issue is that over a long period of time that has caught up with the city. Um, and I think that on the screen you can see where our position is as a city at the end of June before we even talk
about the ambulance. um is how the books for the ambulance service have been kept is in such a way that when we've loaned the money to the general or excuse me to the ambulance service.
We have kept that as a loan on the city books which is a promise to pay the general fund. The issue is the ambulance service now has no ability to repay the money. It's borrowed from the general fund and we
don't have the money in the ambulance currently and we don't have it in the general fund. And this has been a problem um that has continued to snowball. No one is here tonight. Uh, if I may
speak on behalf of the council, uh, we have a wonderful service, but I believe that it's important that our residents know how we got to this point and why this meeting was called about three weeks ago. And if you could
please scroll down to the auditor's letter, that would be great. Thank you, Mrs. Riggs. We received notice from our city auditor and I know that this will take time. The point is to get all of the information out to all of those that care and are
concerned like we are this evening. The letter from the auditor states, "Mayor Dill, I am writing this letter to reiterate and expand upon a particular matter of concern which I discussed during my
presentation to the city council on June 23rd, 2025. Due to recurring operational deficits in the city's ambulance fund, the amount of cash being borrowed from the city's general fund to the ambulance fund has
grown significantly over recent years. To date, these cash advances to the ambulance fund have been accounted for as a loan. This approach explicitly indicates that the ambulance fund intends to repay the general fund. As a
result, these borrowings have had no impact on the general fund's overall bottom line. My growing concern is that the accounting approach discussed above may no longer be representative of true facts and circumstances.
If no action is taken to address the situation, we as the city auditors will soon be forced to conclude that the amounts borrowed from the general fund to the ambulance fund cannot and will not actually be repaid.
Upon reaching this conclusion, we'll need to present the city with the following options. The first option, record permanent cash transfers into the ambulance fund to begin repaying the amounts borrowed or at
least prevent further gross growth, excuse me, of the deficit until we reach a more permanent solution. The cash transfers could come from the general fund or other funds at the discretion of the council.
The second option is for our municipality to accept a modified opinion in a future audit report which is specific to our general fund and ambulance fund. In other words, our audit report would be saying that we
feel the financial statements are fairly stated with the exception of these borrowings and the related impact on fund balance. This would be a deviation from the clean opinion the city has always received in past audit reports.
I know that there's a lot of uh information uh coming forward and we will uh provide enough time this evening to get through it. Um if we could please go to the next uh sheet. Mrs.
This has been uh an issue, as I stated earlier, that um has been going on for quite some time. Um, on October 11th, 2023, uh, long before I was serving on the council, uh, councelor Kaylor wrote
this letter in regard to the ambulance service, which I believe was prior to a town hall held at Bakus Auditorium. Due to the present and growing deficit in the city's ambulance fund, I would propose we as a city council set a
timeline with a date of no later than March 1st, 2024 to come up with a plan to relieve this burden from the citizens of International Falls. The city has worked in the past with our county neighbors
and do not have a solution at this time. As part of this, I would have to task the ambulance director and city administration with looking into possible solutions, including costs, but not limited to the following.
Resuming talks with Cuching County of an ambulance taxing district. The possibility of an ambulance area fee similar to the county sanitation fee. staying our present system, combination paramedic EMT teams,
returning to a basic life support system, fire department drivers and engineers being EMTs, paramedicbased for the city and basic life support for county go to full-time paramedics and an all volunteer fire
department or no ambulance service. I know in theory the state claims we need to have an ambulance. If we don't solve this problem, we will be bankrupt as a city and we won't have money to run ambulance service or anything else.
The next if you could scroll down just uh to the next page please. You can keep going thing. Okay, please. Right to go up just a bit. So, here is and just down just a tiny
bit. Thank you. Um, here is a snapshot of a report that fire and EMS Chief Manassa pulled together. I'd like to thank him for doing that. and it shows a history of
what has happened with the ambulance deficit fund b fund balance. Um these would be the audited numbers from our financial statements which are on a acrruel basis.
And if you could go to the last slide please. It it probably is at the very very bottom there's a blank page. A blank page. Okay. That one. Correct. So, currently we have a
part-time advanced life support service. And I pulled together. This is my own work. So, feel free to to beat it up. do whatever any of us need to do. The the the reason for it is to give an idea
where we're at if we continue with that service. Um and basically to continue with the service, we are at a point where the deficit, the debt that we're holding that the
ambulance service has to pay back to the general fund, we have no capability to do that. We also don't have much money, if any, as you saw in our city's general fund
to pay for anything. I could get into when we write checks out of the general fund, how do they actually cash if there's no money in that fund? I'm not going to address that. Um,
so to continue with the ambulance service with the city taxpayers directly footing the bill for the service, there is a continuous uh and needed levy
increase to go forward with that service. Um, at this time I would like to open up to the council for discussion and thank you for listening by the way. Councelor Wgner,
uh, Administrator Bergstrom, could you go over our LGA and why that money is not used for the ambulance? Well, I can speak to that when I looked into the LGA when u Mr. Wagner was asking me that same question when we started meeting in February and March of
2021. Nowhere in the documentation regarding our LGA does it state that we're required to use it for the ambulance service. And so over the years that has just not been the practice of the city and it's not an essential service. Correct.
It is not an essential service according to the state of Minnesota. That is correct. Thank you. And that I just And that's what LGA is intended for. Essential services. No, that's not true. That's why I'm asking. That's why I'm
asking. I wasn't sure. Address that if I can. Well, I can provide clarity. Uh sir, sir, not at this time.
Um, Mayor Wagner, um, actually I don't need to hear from you at this time for the reason that I would like to keep the discussion gerine to the city affairs. And the reason that I'm doing that is
um, it is not an easy decision. The reason that I'm keeping that, Germaine, is um, to this subject, we still have neighbors. We live in the county and we want them to participate
in this. We want to continue ALS service. If folks are here and they think that any counselor doesn't want to continue that service, I would have a hard time believing that the ALS service is wonderful. So irregardless of what
happens and who participates, the problem that I see as your mayor is that this issue has never been resolved. And if we can't get to that or make cuts or to make big levy increases uh or get a
taxing district, if we go bankrupt over any problem, we don't have ambulance service or anything else, which is exactly what councelor Kaylor pointed out. I'd like to see us continue to work to try to get a taxing district with the
county, with the city of Rineer, St. Louis County. I believe that's the best way. And I I I just think we got one of the best ambulance services in the state of Minnesota. I was just told that today
by a physician assistant that's up here and back and forth. That ambulance service has saved thousands of lives. and the ALS. Um, I want to keep it, but
I also know the cost. Um, but I I want to give it a good fight to try to get a taxing district yet. And I'd like to sit down with Mayor Dennis Wagner and the county commissioners.
And I'd like to give it a a good shot because I believe we got to keep trying at it. So, thank you, councelor Councelor Kaylor. No, I agree on everything you said.
The outcome if the city if the city is unable to secure a taxing district or a form of support from other areas than the city
residents, then I think that the issue is becomes that the residents of our community need to know about is that the council is going to likely be forced to take an action.
Um the most logical option is uh in that situation may be the hardest option which would be go back to a basic life support service that we had 12 13 14 years ago.
the it if you scroll down a little bit. Um Lisa, these are my numbers. We the it doesn't really matter at this point how far we are with the deficit and the deficit
that we're running to continue down the path of providing the advanced life support service. It's a big number um that we would have to levy as city taxpayers every single year. Um there
are options that we could look at as a council to cut other things. Uh councelor Kaylor did propose that in his letter, but the magnitude of this is such that
we're going to have to take action sooner than later. And uh we love this community and we want what's best for it and we're going to have decisions ahead. Uh the floor is back open for the council.
I would agree with councelor Holden, but I think you need a deadline because it can't go for years and years like the last last time we tried this. There needs to be a sixmon Yeah. whatever something. I I know we've been at the table before, but I'd still I I
think the taxing district's the best thing. And I think the people here need to know, they need to talk to the other governmental agencies about having a taxing district because we don't want to lose this ambulance system.
We that's all these guys got hearts here. They they love their town and we don't want to lose that. But we need to get it clear to these other government that you know that whether it's county or the city of Rineer or whatever St.
Louis County they're part of it we haul St. Louis County too part of it that the importance of this we want to keep what we got that ambulance system it's one of the best in the state
there's no question and so my recommendation is all these people here citizens of international falls and out in the county you talk to your county
commissioners ers to the city of Rineer. Um, and that we try to get a taxing district, get it done, get it settled. I know we need a deadline. I got that. You can't keep going forever. Uh,
if if nobody I mean, we got to we got to all step up to the plate. That's what I call it. Step up to home plate. Take care of your community. That means all of us. So, and that's my two cents or whatever, but
I uh I love the city. I moved up here in 1975 and I'm still in love with this city. Um worked here for a long time and uh this has been extremely
difficult for the city council. extremely. And um I would imagine if I know these guys, you're not we're we haven't been getting
much sleep lately. That's the honest truth. So, um I'd like to see all of you get out there and get the word around that we need a taxing district. Okay? I mean,
I just believe in being honest about it. We need it. So, thank you, councelor. Councelor Bowler, please. When I've been visiting with some some residents, um it seemed like there's a division
between International Falls and the county. There is no division there. We are the county. International Falls is the county also. So this International Falls will be part of that taxing district just as much as anybody else in our prescribed area which consists of about
930 miles I think something like that square miles. So I mean we're all in it together. We're all county residents and but we're city residents also. So I just think that we need to keep that in mind that you know you have you have a voice with the county also. You don't have a
voice you can have a voice here with the city. We appreciate you coming but you also have a voice with the county because you are all county residents. Thank you, councelor. Floor is open for the council. What I would I would I would set a deadline
of at the end of the year. That's 6 months like Mr. Wagner suggested before we have to make a decision. That should be ample time to at least get some talks and get some things in motion. If that's if something can be
figured out, whatever that may be. Is that a motion or a discussion point? It can be either one. It'll be a motion. Councelor Kaylor has proposed a main motion to set a deadline. Uh we have a
second for that by councelor Buller. To be clear, because of the magnitude of this meeting, I would like to restate the motion, which I believe was to set a deadline by the end of the year, December 31st.
December 31st. Um, and that would be on going if we had to go back to basic life support. Yeah. if we can't find a solution to what we have right now, the issue we're
in. Is there support or excuse me, councelor Buller? So, the floor is still open for discussion now that we have our motions. I think it's good that we have that meeting, but we got to have something that What are we planning to do in between this time and the end of the
year? Are we going to get back together with the like we had the steering committee before with the county and try to meet at least monthly because if we do get a taxing district that has to be in I think by June doesn't it end of June for next year
for for the legislature I believe the moratorum on taxing districts is up at the end of the year and if there was such a thing that came along I'm sure it could be rectified with a
something such as aou or a letter of intent of of what the what the thoughts or the intent of the parties would be to form it. What are we going to do to include the other parties with it so we can get a meeting going again? I mean, I think there were some good things going at our
last meeting because I was part of that committee and and uh one of the one of the the uh the plans were to uh we had the the county recorder. We got 935 square miles of prescribed area that we
are supposed to have an ambulance for. The states the state prescribes that. We had them look up in that whole area. How many parcels are there that have a building that's worth more than $10,000? How many parcels are there with that
building over $10,000? And then with that, we went and figured out what it would take to help with this deficit. And it we were getting to the point where we had pretty well figured out till it fell apart. But we were right right at about $60 to $70 a year per
parcel to continue the service we have. That might be changed now. It's been a couple years, but it's still that was that was something that was kind of mirrored with the uh the real fire uh fees. And thank you, counselor. And I would like
to add as we continue to discuss um it is beyond me. We have three ambulances on order and I sure would like to see where uh we have that
money to purchase three new ambulances. Um and certainly the way that the books are being kept for the service is uh looking at this that the money would have to come back from the general fund which is where we're having our biggest
struggle because as I stated earlier we lent all the money or a good portion of money from the general fund to the ambulance fund and in no way uh this service has been kept going at uh this wonderful service. Uh,
nobody wants to sit up here and uh, talk about these things in a small community, but this is what we were elected for and uh, we need to move forward. I would as part of the motion also add
looking at some other options in case we can get the tech with some of those that were suggested before and maybe we find out those aren't good suggestions whether it's scheduling different teams.
I know already run we already run uh paramedic EMT teams already and but you know whether it's drivers taking some runs or whatever I'll work on some things like that also
schedules maybe scheduling. Thank you counselor At this point, uh, is there further discussion amongst the council? Councelor Wgner, please. I agree with councelor Kaylor. I think all things on the sheet are open. I think BLS is the beginning of it and
then we go from there depending on what happens. And I would suggest that if you guys are inclined, councelor Holden and yourself would be part of the talks with the county. Yeah, I'd like to be on there. I don't think you need all I don't think
you need all of us. Well, I mean, I'd like I'd like to be on there, but I don't want to drive one of you guys off of there either. I mean, no, I'm I'm good fine with that. If I do, if you're okay,
I I amable to that. And at this point um to stay germanine to the topics is what I would like to do is go ahead and call the question on the main motion and then we'll move on and do the business that we need to do. So question I
I I I'll vote yes. That motion carries 50 or unanimously. Thank you. The next motion that I would request is that we do set up a
committee as councelor Wgner requested of councelor Kaylor and councelor you councelor Holden myself and councelor Holden excuse me and um to reach out to all political
subdivisions that a district could affect in which Then I would also let's go ahead and is there a motion to approve the formation of that committee? I so move. We have a motion by second.
Councilors Buller and Wagner. Discussion. Uh, both of you agree that that's the Well, like I said, I you know, I don't want to drive other ones that are on there currently
and I mean, I want to be on there, but I I don't know what right number would be right to sit down with, you know, I know you think two, three. Yeah. Um, it's a new committee, so you're not
driving. I'd love to sit down and nobody's leaving and we can amend it if we need to. Three. Anyway, we would just need to work on postings, which we're good at. Um, question. I
I I'll vote yes. Motion is approved unanimously. Thank you. And last but not least, I also think it would be a good idea that uh every
Monday there is a special council meeting of the council of a whole where an update is brought forward um by all parties involved with the service being Chief Manassa, Administrator Bergstrom,
Finance Officer Rudd and that will give us an opportunity to review the ambulance service weekly and um Hope Springs eternal. Is there something that we can do uh to continue
on with it? And the meetings may last until midnight. They may last a half hour, but I want to reiterate a commitment uh to the service. What time would you like those to be noticed for?
no time but directly after committee of the whole or regular scheduled city council meetings and uh recurring until such a time that it is not needed. Thank you.
Sorry. So the Monday that there is no meetings, do you still want that meeting? I would say at this point, yes. So then it would be So then 5:30. So what time would you like it on the fourth or fifth Mondays of those months?
5:30. 5:30. And uh we'll now see if there is support for that idea amongst the council. I'll move. There's a motion by councelor Kaylor to approve
I'll second. Second by councelor Buller. Discussion question. I I I'll vote yes. We will meet weekly on the subject. Thank you.
At this time, is there any other business to be discussed pursuant to new business on the agenda amongst the council? Seeing no further business, uh we would certainly I know there is many people
here that would like to speak. Um we are going to give them the opportunity. It will be open uh for 3 minutes and uh please in the respect of the community uh we are anticipating that
many of the comments may be of the same nature. Um so we would like to limit that but we certainly want to get a chance that anybody that has something to say and get on the record please do so. With that the floor is now open. Uh
we have Mrs. I'm going to excuse me. Mrs. Ragnarude is going to come forward as first. She's been uh signaling me, so I would like to extend that to her. Thank you, Mrs. Ragnarude.
I'd like to do a to do a little past history just because I know a lot of people don't realize what happened. I was on the comm I chaired the committee that decided we wanted to go with the paramedics. We decided to do that because of the distance we are from a
tertiary hospital and we thought we would save lives and I feel that we've saved thousands of lives. So I would really hope and I know we may be forced to that we don't go back down to the EMS service. the and I think I'm right about
this, but doesn't our city charter say that the ambulance is supposed to be an enterprise department, which means they're run like a small business and they make their own money and there was not to be money taken out of the city,
even our LGA money, no money taken out of the city's money to run the ambulance, which is why you're doing loans, right? I don't think a lot of people realize that that's how the ambulance is set up. But it's never going to work that way
because it's not possible with Medicaid and Medicare and the rest of our reimbursements. It's just not going to work. It doesn't work for us and it doesn't work for any other rural ambulance in the state of Minnesota. So, um,
Representative Housechild has I think $ 8.2 million. Do we know what our portion of that is going to be? Do we have any idea for the coming year from the new legislation from the new legislation? I don't believe we do it. Chief, have
you heard an update? I can answer that. So, after fiscal year 2026, we will have to submit a report to the state. Uh, all ambulance services that submit a report on this is the operating deficit bill. So, there was four bills passed this legislative
session. of all the ambulance services that turn in a report uh and verify their losses, the $8.2 million will be divided amongst them. So roughly a good chunk that you can use for that is ambulance services under 5,000 runs. Um
you might be able to divide that between about 180ish services, 170ish just for a ballpark figure. So that may possibly come back to us to use to pay off the
loans. Possibly if we have an ambulance taxing district, it won't be run by the city. It most likely would be two people maybe from the city, two from the county, one from Reineer, and they would make the choices of what's happening.
Wouldn't they make the decision about when we buy a new ambulance? Um it it it would and my personal opinion is that every person that is possibly
use that ambulance be part of the solution and the only way that I can see from my own experience would be a taxing district. There's no other way to get the money and it wouldn't if it was divided to everybody and we go all the way to Ash Lake with our runs. It
wouldn't even be that much per household. But I cannot see any way that we can continue down this path. People are worried about the city's financial and and I am and you are.
So I I just made a couple notes just trying to um look back on what was happening when when we did it. Um Mrs. Ragnarude. Yep. because of your knowledge of the history and your previous position to the council, would you allow her to
continue? Oh, I'm over my three minutes on Right. Well, I would say if you receive the service, you need to be part of the solution. We're never going to make it on Medicare and Medicaid and the people who we have a large population in our
town who are low income and when we make a run sometimes we don't get paid at all and we eat those services. So, it's not that the ambulance is being run poorly. It's the way the system is set up that that no ambulance in a rural community
is ever going to be successful unless and and I know some of the cities have already done taxing districts. Um, I want to see our our employees of the ambulance have a fair wage. Um, our paramedics are very well well
trained and I believe with I agree with Mike Holden that we have a wonderful service. Uh, let's see. I know I know there's some concerns about that you ordered three new ambulances, but I don't know that people realize because of where we
are that sometimes our ambulances are on the road every single day and when they get to so many hundreds of thousands of miles, right, Adam? And they start having large repair bills, it's time to get a new ambulance. And I'm sure that
decision is made very carefully and very frugally because they are very, very expensive. So, I think I've said everything I have. Thank you for letting me talk. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening.
Hi, Rhonda Benedict, 9096 Street. So, last city council meeting I asked a question. Um, it was my understanding that the ambulance is not transferring patients to other hospitals in other towns. And you said you weren't going to answer the question. You were going to
wait till our special meeting. So, here I am again. Well, excuse me. We are not We certainly are not providing the ALS service that we had because we have four paramedics and not six. One of the interesting things about
that is that there is a law in ambulance speak at the state level that when we get a call for a transfer that we have a certain amount of time to provide it. And so if we're
not Johnny on the spot over there because we don't have the staff or the or the paramedics or the EMTs, then somebody else can go pick up the call. So, here's an interesting point uh that I'd like to make is that if the Rainy
Lake Medical Center hospital calls the ambulance garage over here or calls dispatch and we can't do the transfer in an expedient manner and let's say that Little Fork uh ambulance, which I
believe is a BLS service, comes to do the transfer. they're part of a taxing district. Um, so there's there's a lot of ins and outs, but one thing I would point out is that um, and I'm looking at Chief
Manassa, we're not doing the number of transfers uh, that we were locally. I think it's down a little bit, but those numbers are reported monthly in the council report and in the packet. I think last I don't have it in front of me. I think we did
33 last month I think was the number correct that's what I transferring to Duth transferring to Hibbing and I mean this is generalities but so last summer long before I was on the city council
when did we go from six paramedics to five obviously we now have four I don't remember the exact time frame on that I think it was December 23 So, have I have I at least partially answered your question? Sure.
So, um that's when you see all the helicopters that started last summer. A lot of them. Yes. So, last summer, two of our four that we still had on were out for long-term medical. I'll leave it at that. Um personal reasons, whatever. So, that we were down to two acting medics for the
whole city for a period of about four months. So that's why there was no transfers. Correct. And we're down to 8 seconds, but I would also like to share that um the hospital is the end beneficiary of the service
and um it's just something to uh put in your memory bank. Thank you. I was just wondering. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Cassie and I am part of the leadership at Bedet Ambulance,
Lake of the Wood Ambulance. I also am a flight paramedic for Guardian Flight. So, I have many concerns. Please speak into the microphone. Sorry, I have many concerns in regards to this. Um, I did a little bit of
really quick math. Um, in four years, you have lost 165 transfers. um doing then to duth you have lost 829,125 that is just in four years and that is
actually one location you guys have a lot of requests to take many transfers to Fargo I know this because we get requested for them we can't always do them either the
transfers that you guys have lost Since um excuse me, 2021, you have lost $1.1 million just in transfers. I understand how difficult transfers are. I understand how long they are. So, here is an
option. I know that chief is very much aware of this. An ALS transfer does require one paramedic. You are able to also utilize a driver or an EMR. You don't have to have an EMT. In that
regards, you may leave an EMT back to help cover the city, which means you would only additionally need one other person. I also was lifted, wasn't it? Wasn't that just a COVID waiver? No, you are able to you're able to file
for a hardship and um those are still available. Uh, I looked up the LGA bill uh for 2025. I understand that the ambulance service is also considered under the state of Minnesota non-essential.
I understand that. But the city did receive $4.9 million for that for the city for 2025. Do you guys have townships in the county? No.
Okay. that might be something that you guys may consider. Um, I know that that's not your responsibility, but something within the county because each township can then participate in paying a certain amount of money.
I'm from southern Minnesota. This is how it's done. This is how you become profitable and how you are sustainable. Many counties do the taxing services. Um, it isn't always a agreed upon. It is
decided upon by the county. Chief, do you guys bill for lift assist or just a glucose check if someone has low sugars? Treatment transports and you bill for that. Yep.
Okay. Another option is contracting out rather than completely dissolving your service as a borrowing service or mutual aid partner. This is going to significantly affect our service as well.
um your residents I'm sorry your residents finish but please your thoughts are going to have a very extended response time if we have to come all the way from Bodet
out to your rural areas it is going to take upwards of an hour imagine what is going to happen if you have somebody that is having a heart attack a stroke or is unresponsive and not breathing These are things that we all need to
consider and I do 100% agree that the taxing services are necessary. We need to consider utilizing this $4 million LGA bill for this service even though we are not considered an
essential service. Thank you. Wow. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Sarah Arch 104 with Lane. Um, and I am a registered nurse here in town. I do work at the
hospital. I'm in my 21st year. And I just want to make it clear, I am in no way representing the hospital on any of my statements. I'm here as an individual. Um, but I think that the people really need to understand what goes on with our ambulance service. Our paramedics, our EMTs, when there is a
call for a 911 help, they send out their paramedic. They send out an EMT to that place. When they arrive there, they are able to take that patient. They're able to get IVs and medications, and they can call Lifellight right at the scene. Sometimes Lifellight will land at the
scene and take that patient to the next facility. They can call a trauma from the field. They notify us. We get everything prepared and are set and ready. Without that service of a paramedic, the whole difference is that patients waiting. The EMT will go, they
have to transport. There is no IV. There are no medications. There's no field calls. It is what it is. It's a basic service. There's huge differences between those two items. I personally feel we live in a very rural community. I myself and my
husband, we've chosen to live here. We've chosen to stay here. We love our area. We love our community. It's God's country. It's a national park. I mean, really, what more can you ask for? But we know that and we know that we give up the medical service. And if I personally, if I had somebody really
critical of my family, I wouldn't probably move it to a different town where the services were higher. Um, I feel our hospital does a really good job with what we've done through the years. It used to be when I first started, we had nurses that would go with on ambulance runs and right in the back.
It's a very difficult thing to do because you have to find that nurse that can do that who hasn't been working all night, etc. Sometimes they've even been pulled right off the floor to go with. I myself have actually done that. Um, and just as an example, if you're injured,
you're laying there somewhere, maybe you're having a heart attack, whatever you may be having, someone's calling 911 for you, and a paramedic, like I say, they're going to arrive. They're going to transport you. They're going to get all that care taken care of safely. Without that, who's going to get you
there? Are you going to have your family member, someone just lift you up and pull you in and not know if you're injured before that? Time is money. Time is death, time is damage. The time that they give us and provide to us and the care that they provide getting those
patients to our hospital is lifesaving. And if we lose our paramedics, we are going to be losing lives in our county as a result. Thank you. You're welcome. Good evening. Alan Cruz, 3077 County
Road, International Falls, Minnesota. Um, I just want to make a quick correction to something that was said earlier. LGA is not factored by city services in any facet. There's why it's not tied to
any city services in terms of the requirements. It's based on your age and population. It's a It's also based on how much of your housing, residential housing under the 19 under 1940s or older, as well as your commercial and industrial property
tax value. It's basically a fund to help pay when you don't have the ability to pay. As everybody said, it's $4.9 million. Anybody that is not being taxed to help pay for
this service is freeloading on this service. Regardless of what any mayor says from any other community, there's no incentive for the mayor of Raineer or the county to do any deal with you and the city because they have
no push to do so. Withholding services is going to be the only way to get them to the table. I hate to say it, the one thing that you guys cannot do is get rid of this ALS. You cannot get rid of the service that we have.
My suggestion would be is to set a budget for the city at like 12 to 14 million. lock it down and then use the LJ funds to make things whole and handle other budgetary
concerns that you have as well as use it for other economic development issues. But the people that serve for police, for EMT, for the Hamlin Service and the fire
department are not essential. They're critical as a health of the community and to show that the rest of the state that this community still has the potential to grow. The reason that Medicaid is an issue as as the council
former counselor said is because of the age of the population. There's work to be done to bring new jobs, new people here, but bottom line is it's not going to happen if we go backwards in terms of the support we have. You guys have to stand 10 stand toes
down for these guys that work hard every single day with this ambulance service and the ALS. You pay for it. You set a boundary on yourselves as city overall and then you figure out how what else needs to be cut. But those things can't
go. But make no mistake, it doesn't matter who wrote the LGA bill. It's not how the mayor described it. And that's just fact. So I implore you guys to stick with this group and find a way. I
appreciate that you guys have set a a deadline, but you guys are going to have to make it hurt or they're never going to come to the table or else you're going to have the oh, we're not freeloaders speech that you got at the beginning of this thing from everybody else. Thank you very much. Thank you.
I would like to point out to the council that with the talk of disillusion of the service our our city does a wonderful job providing the service
but about forcing to the table well what would happen if the city dissolved the service certainly somebody would pick it up and So, I just want to let and I think the council would agree that we're looking for solutions.
And so, when you hear about dissolving the service, it's still misleading that um and we don't know that we could do that. But it's misleading that it would be because we didn't think it was of value. It would be that well, who takes it next? And I will tell the the room
that I recent and I just one second sir that I have reached out to representative Scruba and Representative Hoschild and asked them what happens if we walk away from it alto together will the state step in what happens? Who
gets the certificate? Don't know the answer. Haven't uh received it. But my point is that we're trying to move forward with something that might work. Please, sir. My name is Terry. I live at 130316th
Street. Uh I have been a volunteer on your ambulance fire service for 25 years. I've been a registered nurse, worked at the hospital. I've been giving 40 years of emergency service to this community and I was also director of the emergency room at the hospital. I was on
the committee that brought the paramedics into the city here as well and worked with the city council and the county for at least a three-year period before that even came into effect. Some of the things that have happened over the 40 years are uh the city did not
place a big emphasis on collecting their ambulance bills. People would die and five months later they still wouldn't have gotten a bill. The city hall did not do that. They went to electronic system to try to collect the bills faster and get people paying and I
believe that helped out a bit. But lots of problems between Medicare, Medicaid, uh not being able to pay the amount of out of town runs and that have also brought this to a head. So it has been
that way. So, uh, with the the police department and the fire department, they both operate underneath the public safety operation budget here. Your fire department is using 26% of that budget and your police department is using 64%
of that budget. Now, if our ambulance service is working underneath an enterprise fund, what other services do the city have that also operate on an enterprise fund? And why is the ambulance that only service that operates underneath that?
Yeah. Yeah. What what other services does the city have that are operating underneath that enterprise fund? Water. The water. Oh, the water and the water and sewer that has specifically set generated to
essentially offset the cost of providing those services. Okay. And I would add that we do have a new city charter that councelor Kaylor was intimately involved in creating it. And second, I believe, and this is a question for Betty and Emma, that the
way the ambulance fund was set up when we took the BLS certificate from the hospital was as a special revenue fund and not an enterprise. And that doesn't mean much to a lot of people, but please continue. Sure. Okay. Uh, also the governor of our
state had allocated money for rural ambulance services to help beef them up. I believe International Falls was given $200,000 to do that. And uh, I understand that's maybe just putting a band-aid on this service here, but I think uh, you know,
I would like to the city to continue to support the paramedic service in our town. In my view, uh the paramedic service is our most important service whether the state agrees with that or not. Uh with that more so than our fire
department, more so than the police department in that uh as a taxpayer of International Falls, I'm paying uh taxes towards our police department. I'm paying uh state taxes or county taxes for the sheriff's department. That's a duplicative services. We got the big
cost of the police building where we're putting the police in town. All that money could be used to be beefing up your ambulance service and keeping that as a priority. Also, the ambulance the fire. Sorry, sir. We must uh move on. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your testimony. My name is Brenda Brenda Luchah. I'm at 321 Shorewood Drive. I have been on the service for 16 years. Um I think I was up here a couple years ago. Uh I believe all four counselors were here. Mayor Dill, you were not here. I did challenge
all four of you guys to come visit us. I don't know if I've seen any of you guys down there. But moving to BLS service, um I have been working with the paramedics most of my EMT career. The a the paramedics are
amazing. The paramedics matter. If you get rid of the paramedics, you have another problem on your hands. And I don't know if you guys are aware of this. Staffing for EMTs is not good. So, you have 22 EMTs. Four of those are engineers, EMT
engineers. Six of those people have full-time other than the engineers have full-time jobs. Eight of those people out of those 22 do not live in the city limits, do not respond to 911s. They are all from
Little Fork, Lman, and uh Ray. Three of those 22 people, including myself, do not have other jobs and are available most of the time. Three of those 22 are seasonal. Two of them don't work during the summer. One um three of
them don't work during the summer. Um, and out of those three people, they're included in the out of town people. Two of those people are included in the out of town people. So that's one other person, four people that are actually available all the time for runs in town,
911s, and we have one person out on medical leave. So, in the six months where you guys are going to have to figure out where you're going to come up with money for the ALS or to uh replenish the deficit, if you go BLS, you're also going to have to either put on an EMT class or you're going to have
to figure out where these other EMTs are going to come from. I for one, if the the paramedics leave, I will put this on record. I will probably put in my resignation. Those paramedics mean the world to me and I do not want to see them leave. Thank you.
Thank you. Police Chief Manassa. Thank you. I wasn't sure if I was going to get a opening here, so I'll keep mine brief because I think a lot of people have spoke a lot of things that we talked about. I do have some handouts for the
council. um that I'll share later. To Brenda's point, uh our paramedics have elevated our BLS service. And what I mean by that is we've learned a lot from them. We are
better EMTs because of them and they help us do our job better. So when you do say you want to revert to a BLS service, this is not a knock on any one of our EMTs on our service. They do a great job, but they do a great job because they're educated by our paramedics, because they work in concert
with the paramedics, and because they've learned from them. So, I want to make that very clear. Uh, probably the biggest other thing I want to say if you're limiting me to the three minutes is the handouts I'm going to give the
council. They are the requests for the taxing district dated February 11th, 2022. Those were sent to Cuching County, St. Louis County, and the city of Reineer. when tasked with coming up with solutions to the ambulance service. These solutions were brought to the city
administrator August 21st, 2020. You'll see that they were also brought to the city council at the committee of the whole May 13, 2024. You'll see that as well. So, there were no solutions that came out of that.
In the defense of the council on that, I think when we talked through the items specific to councelor Kaylor's letter, I think we identified that some of these things we're already doing. Um, and then we also talk through the costs and the scenarios otherwise. So, at the
end of the day, I think the biggest problem we have is we have a great service and it does cost us money and we do need somebody to share in that expense or we need to figure out how to fund it. I don't think it's because of a lack of effort on anybody on the city side and I think we're all willing to
work to try and figure that out. But if we don't get somebody to come to the table, then you, the council, has to figure out what we're going to do. I think you're going to hear a lot of public input in the next coming weeks as we go through this. I hope it's
supportive of the service because we do run a great service. But the biggest question at the end of the day is what's the plan? If we don't do it, who do you have to do it? There needs to be a smooth continuity of service. So, if we don't have somebody in six months time, I understand you're
going to ask a question, mayor, but if we don't have somebody and we can't fund that and we cut back, who are you going to get to do it? So, that's what we need to figure out. I um well,
it's unfortunate that it has come to this. If we're going down the path of insolveny as a community, then let's get it over right now and everybody can lose their contracts.
we'll get to start again and we won't have 56 people on the payroll working at the city. We'll start with the budget and we'll have to balance our books as the city because we won't be allowed to do this again. And it isn't even that statement about the ambulance service,
but is what I'm hearing is that you're advocating for it and you have every right to. I would hope that you would. So, how are we going to do that? And the ask to that is as follows. is that this council has to dramatically increase
taxes and we can do that. Uh Mayor Droba went to the legislature and spoke with Senator Hoschild and Representative Scruba. They have confirmed that when he went to the state and said, "How do we
fix this?" They said, "Raise your tax levy. We can do that." So that is an option. But we also have a responsibility that if the city is going to own the service and run this deficit, are we going to double people's property
taxes every 3 or four years? So, something has got to get cut and it has to be a lot of things and that means we're going to go without other services and we can do that. And I think that um the point of the meeting was to get the
information out there as to where this is at today and we're here to advocate for this level of service I believe and hopefully get some support with the service. The other thing back to dissolving the
certificate. Um if somebody else picked up the certificate, if if um if the state says get rid of your certificate, we will make the county take it. Well, I don't agree with throwing something in
somebody's lap, but they may have to provide the service and then there's going to be a lot of people in their boardroom. So again, I think that people are really looking to move ahead and continue on with the great service that we've received. And I
understand that and I appreciate that, mayor. I I do think one of the comments that needs to be made was very early on in our taxing district discussion. Um, I think as part of the sell we thought we had to do to the other entities was we went out and priced what that expense
would be from another service and it's dramatically more than what we're losing per year. And unfortunately we may be at an impass of if this is the level of service that this city wants that is the expense attached to it. And um, one of the comments made with the ambulance
just so we're clear we do run four ambulances. Currently, they're 2015s, 2016, 2017, and a 2020. One has 244,000 mi, one has 221, 180, and I think it's 140 or
something right now on the newest one. The problem is after we came out of COVID, for whatever reason, it takes three years to get an ambulance. You put your order in, it takes a long time. So, if we're going to look at cancelling an order, you need to understand how far that pushes us back. So, when we ordered
those ambulances in front of the council here last year, that was part of our problem was we didn't know when we were going to get delivery of them, the public safety money that was referenced earlier, the city got $256,000 for public safety money. We put all of that towards the purchase of a new
ambulance. We budgeted money for that. Um, so I I I just I think there's a little bit of a we did set some money aside to do this. The reason we did it is because of the lag and getting the ambulance is we understand the age of our fleet and we understand how long it takes to
replace those. One of the common complaints we get in the ambulance and I don't mean to laugh at this but it's not a delay in service. It's not in anything else. The most common complaint we get is gosh this thing is rough on the way to Duth or gosh it rattles or whatever. So um
I don't mean to make light of that but there is truth in that. Those boxes do wear. We do get miles on them and then we start to get into maintenance issues as well. I do not have the maintenance costs in front of me, but I can guarantee you ambulance 15 is probably half its value invested back into it in
parts. So, um, please be mindful of that. It's not that we want or need to drive a new rig every year. That's not what we're getting at, but we are looking at replacing a 10-year-old rig right now, and we're still a year out on that. So, that's the
push. That's why we asked for those things. We did a lease agreement for our most expensive equipment. I think the other thing people need to understand is what goes into the back of an ambulance. So when we pay $300,000 for an ambulance, we put another 200 in the
back of it, if not more. So each monitor is, you know, $25,000. Our stretcher is 40. The lift is 40. Stairchair is about 12. Lucas is about 15 right now. last time we looked, all the equipment that goes in that is an add on top of that.
So, when we do talk about a $300,000 ambulance, that's that's the chassis. That's the that's the box empty. When we fill it up to what we need to do, we're probably pushing a half a mill. So, we can get exact figures. We can lay that out to you. But one of the things we did in an effort to save that money was that
ALS system from Striker. So, why that helped with us, that fixed our asset cost. So, we did that as a budgetary item. So we pay a fixed amount over the co course of 10 years. At the end of 10 years, we own the equipment. In the middle of that lease, municipal lease,
um we get a refresh, which means anywhere between four year four and six, we get all brand new equipment. Everything's swapped out and we get new. We did that to try and fix the costs of the ambulance. We wanted to know what we were going to pay 10 years from now and we did that.
So, um I think the bottom line is I'm willing to work with council or county or whoever we need to do to to try and get this. We've worked hard in the past. We're going to continue to work. Uh our crews are going to continue to work and
we're want to be here and available and we want to continue to be here and available. So, whatever that takes for us, I think we're willing to do that. I want to um say something about the ambulances, too. Uh we had Adam at the public safety committee give us the
mileage on the uh three or four ambulances and they were high and I mean it was a no-brainer. We public safety is really important and you don't want patients going down in a 300,000 mile ambulance um where things break
down on the way down. So, we talked about it, public safety, and we decided we move ahead and buy ambulances and that we recommended to the city council that we needed to purchase new ambulances to because of
the high mileage and it takes two to three years to build them. It isn't like you can just grab one. We were in a need to do that. Now, it was my recommendation. Tim Tim Wagner's on
public safety Adam that we get those ambulances and I I couldn't see I mean we had to do it. So, thank you councelor and and I would reiterate the the the reason for this
meeting was to discuss the service and I don't know that we have money for three new ambulances today. We don't have any money put away for fire trucks. We don't have any money put away for much of anything.
And the reason that we're here is to advocate for these needs, but as a community, we're going to be facing many realities. So, uh, thank you, Chief, for your testimony. Um, with that being
said, everyone here is Thank you. I just have a a few thoughts that I kind of want to share and some of it'll be echoing what other people have said, but I think it's fair to say that city staff are in agreement. something needs to be done about the growing deficit. That's that's not the argument we're making.
However, I do think it's unfair to say that no solutions have been found. I think there have been solutions found, but there's been no solutions that have been agreed upon. I think the most logical is a taxing district. Um it's not on the city that the county and
Rineer are dragging their feet for the last four years. Um the old saying goes, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Um, like was said before, Cooch County and Reineer have no incentive other than us continuing that level of service to
pony up. Essentially, city residents have been disproportionately funding things across the board. From the ambulance, um, they've been funding 100% of the shortfall. the airport. They're funding roughly 63% of the local share
when we only occupy roughly a quarter of the net tax capacity in Coochin County. We are funding 100% of the local share of the library. City residents are getting rad over the coals. And my opinion is as a I'm sorry, Emma. I'm not allowing you to
continue because I don't want to sit here and bash our neighbors. We're we're we're we're we're rehashing these things over and over and over and we have to move forward at some point as a community and have a budget and follow it. And if we're going to throw things
out, then that's what we have to do. But um there's so many things that have been pointed out in that that are the council will have to deal with. Now, at this time, uh I believe please come forward, Mr. Bole. I don't usually sit with my back to the
audience, but you guys are the ones that are deciding this issue. But unfortunately, you're the wrong people to be deciding. Microphone. Put the microphone. Usually people can hear what I'm saying. Okay. Um,
first of all, my name is Joe Bole. I'm the uh former city attorney of International Falls over 12 years ago. Uh I was the attorney for over 45 years and uh I uh really uh appreciate the
fact that we have a wonderful uh ambulance service. uh twice I would have died if those people didn't serve the community and the community is just not the boundaries of international laws but throughout our whole area. Now the
people that received the service have to pay for it and I know how this thing evolved historically. You know, in 1850, nobody had the police every everywhere. And of course, in 1850, we didn't even
have a a a city. But the reality is is that we are a county that has no townships. And therefore, the county has the responsibility of setting up uh districts for services that are
received. Now, as the city attorney falls, that was a part-time position. I represented numerous cities, various times, six or seven cities. At least two or three of them had taxing districts. It was no big deal. Everybody who's
getting the service pays for it. Now, the LGA applies throughout the state. And the LGA has absolutely nothing to do with uh the ambulance service. It has to do with um uh certain formulas and and I
was there when I Anderson came up with the idea and uh and also all the fellows that Mr. Mayor Wagner mentioned. I was good friends with all those fellows, but nobody said the LGA was supposed to pay ambulance. And at the time I was a city
attorney and nobody even thought that that would be the case. It was supposed to be paid for itself. Now, I guess I'm going to go over three minutes, but I'd like to finish uh because I do have a point to what I'm saying. The thing is is that medical services has changed
substantially in the last 50 years to say the least. Originally, you had a you had an ambulance service that just brought people to the falls and when they got to the falls, that was it. The fact is they either died or survived and that changed and now we have this whole
other service where it ends up where people are sent down to the uh to various places whether it be duth Mayo Minneapolis whatever and that is where a huge amount of the expense comes in and not all of it is paid for by the
government. Now I sort of believe that the f federal government should be paying a little bit more but that's an irrelevant thing. The thing is you got to pay for what you get. You got to pay for these people. I'm not saying the salaries are correct or anything like that as to how you uh uh manage this
service, but I am saying that you have to have a uh a district created and the people here should all be going to the county because it's just a basic thing. It's nothing that anybody should be avoiding. It's just the the evolution of
the system of providing a certain service has gotten beyond the city limits of International Falls. Uh someone called me up and I didn't know about this meeting till 4:00 and then I talked to some other folks and and I came to this meeting. I came to the
meeting from Island View. The fact is I have 10 people that are out there at Island View from out of town, but they also own a house out there. And the fact is if anybody gets hurt they got need that ambulance service. So I'm not here as a city resident but I am here as a
citizen saying that we have to pay for the service. All the people that are receiving the service should be contributing for the service. Thank you Mr. Bo. Well just one second. It's I'm trying to be consistent. Well
the fact is I think I made my point so I'll be done. You did. Thank you. At this point, is there any other business to come before the city council? Mayor, I I normally just um let it go and keep my mouth shut, but um I'm
pretty disturbed that Emma got cut off and I would request that she be able to finish. She is the city's financial adviser and I think she knows the numbers better than anyone and I don't believe she was saying anything out of line from what everyone else was saying that the county needs to pay their share. I would request she gets to speak
the the Well, I'll tell here's why that I stop that because it's turning in to the same thing over and over and if we don't get an ambulance taxing district um he is a city resident too. all the other
city residents got to come up and say that we need a taxing district. Emma was the only one you cut off and she is a city employee. She works for you guys and for her to be treated like that, I don't know why she should come back tomorrow. I always keep my mouth shut,
but I can't for this one. This meeting's adjourned.