After about five months of discussion, the Ronan city council unanimously decided to award its ambulance service to Tim Brester, owner of the Polson Ambulance Service.

Brester has been campaigning to own and operate the Ronan Ambulance Service since October when the RAS crew began looking at the option to operate as a private organization.

On Wednesday, March 8, a special meeting was held where both Brester and Lytle "Bud" Gillin placed their bids. City board members decided not to award a bidder at that meeting and instead opted to wait and weigh their options. While Gillin's bid was higher than Brester's, experience was the factor that would determine who would take the reigns, not cost.

With Brester having over 10 years of emergency service experience and the support of the RAS crew and St. Luke officials, his bid of $156,000 was accepted.

"With the experience and staff behind him, my vote is for Tim," said board member Cal Hardy.

"It's not going to be much of a transition for Tim to take over, my vote is for Tim," said board member Dick Jungers.

The RAS will be sold not leased to Brester and the transfer is expected to be completed by April 1.

"To put your trust in me and everyone behind me, you can expect nothing but the best in service," Brester told the council.

"It's a great feeling. I'm extremely relieved," Brester said after the meeting. "It's been a long road."

Brester said RAS going private will allow them "to continue the care they've always given."

Brester will keep the original crew with head volunteer Greg Sheumaker working full-time to manage the service. Response time are expected to be minimal and level of care is expected to increase as employees will be offered advanced training.

"They want to provide this level of service and we're giving them a way to do that," he said.