SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Ambulance Service District will be moving to weekly meetings in a move prompted by concerns over discrepancies with agenda items and personnel changes.  

The BCAD met Wednesday with only two action items up for approval — last meeting’s minutes and FY25 claims batch No. 19.  

Several members of the community raised concerns about the lack of agenda items, fearing that it showed the district's long-standing issues weren't being handled appropriately. The BCAD had been treated like a department for over 20 years, creating a crisis for the district, and an uphill battle for the board to correct the misconception.   

The commissioners ultimately apologized and agreed that structure was needed when creating the agenda. The board moved to have agenda items submitted by Monday, allowing two days for the agenda to be reviewed and revised as necessary.  

“We need to create that structure for the ambulance district, there's not a process in place for that. This is an example of showing where there's a hole in how the agenda itself was created,” said Commissioner Asia Williams.  

Another concern was raised during the meeting when discussion led to the commissioners learning of a personnel shift on the EMS team. This raised concern for the board, as none of them were informed or consulted about the change. The shift included one EMS personnel being promoted from lieutenant to captain. While there was only a three cent pay raise with the promotion, the commissioners were still concerned about the lack of communication with the board. The promotion was contradictory to the presentation given by EMS Chief Jeff Lindsey at the last ambulance district meeting.  

“Now that BCAD has its own board, I view it as no different than any other elected within the county. Hiring, firing, demotions, promotions, all those decisions should go through the board,” said Commissioner Ron Korn.  

To increase communication and awareness between the board, BCAD and the community, the board decided to hold weekly meetings instead of bi-weekly. Each meeting will be dedicated to a specific part of the department in an effort to untangle the 20-year mess. Meetings will continue to be held Wednesdays at 11 a.m.