GREENWOOD TWP- Greenwood Township won’t make its annual contribution to the Tower Area Ambulance Service’s ambulance replacement fund for 2022. The town board voted unanimously last Wednesday to reject the agreement, between the city of Tower and townships and other entities served by the ambulance service, which calls for a $15 per capita annual payment to help fund the purchase of new ambulances.
Greenwood was expected to pay $15,615 to the ambulance replacement account in 2022. The agreement also calls for a double payment in 2023, which was agreed to by all other members of the Tower Ambulance Commission, the group that oversees the subsidy account and makes recommendations on the purchase of new rigs and the disposal of old rigs.
“I told them it wasn’t going to work,” said John Bassing, the recently appointed alternate for the township’s seat on the commission. Bassing cited the removal of the indemnification clause and the lack of a business plan for his recommendation not to sign the agreement.
Greenwood Township has had 151 ambulance calls so far this year, with 44 to the township outside of Vermilion Reservation, 25 to Fortune Bay, and 82 to Vermilion Reservation. Bois Forte is a member of the commission and both the tribe and Fortune Bay make an annual donation to the subsidy account totaling $7,500.
The township had insisted the indemnification clause go into the last contract, and the city had agreed, but after further consultation with their own attorney, decided that any indemnification clause needed to be mutual. And other representatives on the ambulance commission also decided such a clause was not essential, because the commission has no authority over the ambulance service and just serves to contribute money for new rigs.
But Greenwood certainly did not agree with this argument.
“It’s simple,” said resident Lee Peterson, “when something bad happens, the attorneys go where the money is.”
Peterson also said the $1.66 per mile that the city contributes to the ambulance subsidy fund for any non-emergency transfer funds was too low.
“That $1.66 is a joke,” he said. “They want somebody else to pay, that’s the bottom line.”
The town board did express some concerns that they might be getting blamed for not having enough in the subsidy account to purchase the new rig that the commission wants to order.
“You didn’t give me money so I could buy a new Corvette,” quipped Supervisor Rick Stoehr.
Supervisor Barb Lofquist said she would be interested in starting to attend the ad-hoc committee meetings set up by the Tower Council, which has representatives from all the townships in the ambulance service area and are discussing options for management of the ambulance service in the future. Greenwood had previously decided not to attend those meetings.
Peterson claimed the ad hoc committee meetings are in violation of the open meeting law, but in the Timberjay’s experience, such committees are not subject to that law’s requirements.
The board heard that consultants from the McGrath Group will be in the area again this week to conduct more interviews. The township hired the group to study ambulance services in the area and look at options for providing a higher level of service. They expect to see the study completed by the end of the year.
“This study will benefit everybody and we are paying for it,” said Stoehr. The township has received a $25,000 grant from the IRRR, but the total cost of the study is about $55,000.
Other business
• Heard that the township pickup truck is being serviced for an engine issue.
• Heard an update on the broadband project recently approved in the township. John Bassing said the project will include most of the south shore of Vermilion, except for Isle of Pines, which was excluded because of its location, but there may be other options to be looked at. CTC will be sending emails to people who filled out the survey saying they were interested in broadband and will be holding public meetings in the area over the winter.
• Heard that the election went very well, with about 73-percent of registered voters casting ballots. There were 18 new voters registered on election day, and 110 absentee voters.
“The election judges barely had time for a bite to eat,” said interim clerk JoAnn Bassing.
Bassing told the board that she had received incorrect information on how to bring the election data to the county and had been initially told to drop the thumb drive with the data at the Tower Clerk’s Office first thing in the morning.
“We got a call in the middle of the night from Phil Chapman, from the county auditor’s office,” she said, “and John and I drove it down at 2 a.m.”
• Approved transferring the township’s investment CDs to a new CD that will pay either 4.35 or 4.75-percent interest.
• Accepted a $15,000 donation from Bois Forte for the fire department, and a $525 donation from the Greenwood quilting group.
• Heard that the township will be receiving a new Brassmaster water treatment system, because of an apparent malfunction with the system that was recently installed. While arsenic levels are still below the danger level, they unexpectedly increased after a couple of months of operation.