SANDPOINT — A short and sweet Bonner County Ambulance District meeting took place Wednesday with county officials being the only ones in attendance.  

The district’s first meeting in June was utilized for budget discussions and a brief touch on the district’s structure.  

Claims batch No. 34 totaled $155,556.81 and included $48,047.12 for regular expenses and $107,509.69 for an ambulance lease payment. 

Additionally, the district provided an update on legal agreements between three county entities — technology, human resources and facilities. The agreements highlight work that each department will handle for the district and is slated to be discussed in a future meeting; it is undetermined when that meeting will be held.  

On par with the district’s efforts to become isolated from the county, BCEMS’ new bookkeeper Jennifer Wyman made an appearance at Wednesday’s meeting to officially meet the BCEMS board.  

“This (BCEMS) is one of my biggest clients, and I’m honored that you guys have selected me and are going to be working with me,” said Wyman.  

Commissioners Asia Williams and Brian Domke equally shared their gratitude in meeting Wyman, extending an open door if she needed help transitioning the district’s bookkeeping and payroll services   

To end the meeting, the BCEMS board hit on the district’s structure. The structure of the district was discussed during a May 21 meeting, where the board reviewed several structural options for the district. Several community members shared their support in dissolving the district to form a new one with a new governing board, which was one of the options suggested in the previous meeting.  

When asked Wednesday about a decision on the district structure, Williams and Domke shared that a decision would occur in a future meeting, as historical data of the district was currently being reviewed and sought after.     

“We can say our intent is to make a clear decision in the near future, as soon as we can. It's just, we just need to get a few more questions answered. But from my perspective, we have a few pieces of data we need to get confirmed. Then we can hopefully have, because of schedules, all three commissioners here, all three ambulance commissioners here, and we can have a thorough discussion and make a decision publicly,” said Domke.  

Williams shared similar remarks as Domke, further showing her appreciation for the EMTs and paramedics working for BCEMS. She also noted that the district was stable and on a “positive trajectory.”  

“I want to make sure that’s what people are hearing, not panic,” said Williams. “We’ve done a lot of work in a very short period of time.”