Wrenshall council scrutinizes ambulance service

The city of Carlton may have hit a speed bump last week on its way to adding two full-timers to its ambulance service.

A skeptical Wrenshall city council heard Carlton’s proposal during a special meeting April 19, and Wrenshall’s five-member board remained noncommittal, telling Carlton it would have an answer following its May 3 council meeting.

“Why does Carlton have to be in the ambulance business?” asked Wrenshall councilor Melvin Martindale. “You’re 1,100 people strong and you’re just not big enough to support (it) and you’re raising the taxes essentially on everybody in the 40-mile, 30-mile radius. Frankly, I can’t support it.”

Another councilor, Jody Mattinen, mistakenly said Wrenshall was already being taxed for ambulance service by the Cloquet Area Fire District.

“It’s a line item,” she said.

The Carlton officials tried to dissuade her of the notion.

“The fire district should not be on city of Wrenshall taxes,” Carlton fire chief Derek Wolf said.

The newspaper later confirmed with the Cloquet Area Fire District that Wrenshall is not part of its service area.

“There is no part of Wrenshall that is within our service area or taxing district,” fire chief Jesse Buhs said.

There is a generic line item on county tax statements used for special taxing districts, said county auditor Kevin DeVriendt. Any special taxes are all lumped together on one line, he added.

In the end, the Carlton city officials seemed to provide ready answers to the Wrenshall council’s inquiries.

“We like our ambulance service, and we have a great working relationship with our neighboring departments,” Wolf said. “And we ultimately want to keep the service. We like taking care of our neighbors.”

Service area

To date, Carlton has reported roughly $206,000 in commitments from municipalities that use the service. Under its state license, Carlton serves the cities of Carlton and Wrenshall along with Black Bear Casino Resort, and Atkinson, Blackhoof, Mahtowa, Thomson, Twin Lakes, Sawyer and Wrenshall townships. Atkinson and Blackhoof have agreed to make partial contributions to the service for 2024, while Wrenshall Township has declined to participate. Carlton officials plan to meet with Black Bear. All other municipalities have agreed to increased contributions to help meet the $250,000 goal set to fund two full-timers. Carlton is seeking $9,537 from the city of Wrenshall for 2024.

Because call volumes have increased in recent years, to roughly 700 calls annually, the service has proposed adding a full-time manager and emergency medical technician who would work the ambulances during business hours Monday through Friday while also managing the department’s 60 on-call volunteers.

The current Carlton ambulance manager, Erik Bergstedt, works 10 hours a week, enough to schedule, but not enough time to solicit grants or perform community services in any other meaningful way.

Bergstedt said Carlton ambulance typically gets to a Wrenshall call within 10 minutes. Any other service — Cloquet, Essentia Health based in Moose Lake, Cromwell or Duluth — would take substantially longer, he said.

“Not only would they come in and do what we’re doing and ask for support financially, but how good of a response are you going to get?” Bergstedt said. “We take pride in our response times. For a small ambulance service in a small town, our service is phenomenal.”

Wrenshall councilor Joyce Gvesrude, who said she’s used and appreciates the Carlton ambulance service, asked several questions, including if the Cloquet Area Fire District would be able to take on the city if Carlton didn’t offer an ambulance service.

Wolf affirmed it was likely, but that residents would first be enrolled in the taxing district.

“It just sounds to me that no matter what route the municipalities take they have to participate [financially] in one way or another, no matter whose service they use,” Gvesrude said.

Wolf agreed.

“You’re not going to have another service come in without local support,” he said.

Obligations

Carlton city clerk Carol Conway explained that the ambulance service is committed to serving local municipalities, even if they choose to not participate financially.

“Because our ambulance license defines the area, we have to respond to that area,” she said. “We don’t have a choice unless we don’t have the staff … or if both rigs are gone [on other calls]. Then, we rely on mutual aid.”

Martindale remained unconvinced, targeting the city health insurance that two new full-time employees would receive.

“It’s impractical for the size of Carlton,” Martindale said. “I understand what you’re saying … but it’s taxes on taxes. You’re asking us to front the money for other people’s insurance. I’ve got nobody fronting money for my insurance. It just doesn’t seem right.”

Conway said city insurance would amount to $18,000 annually per person.

Mayor Gary Butala said the Wrenshall council would decide at its May 3 meeting whether or not to support the service with what amounts to a voluntary contribution.

“I want everybody to think about it,” Butala said.

The Carlton city council has not approved the full-time additions for 2024. Instead, it’s waiting to line up funding while also seeking multiyear commitments from surrounding municipalities. A meeting between Carlton officials and the other municipalities is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. May 25 at the Carlton County Transportation Building.