Clarification: Wednesday's ambulance district meeting served as an opportunity for the district to learn more about the logistics of a new district structure. The ambulance district remains on course for distinguishing itself from the county and does not plan to act on dissolving the district. The Bonner County Daily Bee apologies for any misrepresentation. 

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Ambulance District heard from two attorneys in Wednesday’s meeting, where they were given insight on the district’s legal structure.  

EMS attorney Bill Punkoney, along with his partner Bill Gigray, spoke about the ambulance district’s legal structure and provided several options for the district to consider.  

The district could remain a county taxing district with county commissioners remaining on the ambulance district board, or the district could be dissolved and reformed and a new board would be elected.  

Gigray, who has experience in dealing with ambulance district structures, informed the ambulance district of the reasons why a county would want to dissolve the current district and form a new one. According to Gigray, the main determining factor for dissolving a district is to allow county commissioners to focus on many of their other duties. Appointing a new board would allow them to have a sole focus on the district without the distraction of other county responsibilities. Gigray also said that dissolving an ambulance district to form a new one was appealing to counties as it forced the district to pay and obtain their own services needed to run, such as legal counsel, HR services and insurance.  

To effectively dissolve an existing ambulance district to establish a new one under Idaho Code 31-3911, a petition would have to be put in place to designate the boundaries of the new district. From there, 50 eligible voters located in the proposed boundary would have to sign the petition. Upon obtaining the necessary signatures for the petition, each city within the proposed boundary must pass a resolution consenting to participating in the new ambulance district. From there, the petition and any other necessary documents would need to be published in a county newspaper.  

A hearing would then be scheduled to determine whether the petition would be granted by county commissioners. If approved, the resolution would be given to the county clerk and a special election would be called in either November or May. From there, it would be up to county residents to vote on the dissolution of the district.  

An alternative solution for the district would be to keep the county commissioners as its board and continue its efforts in establishing its own services. 

During public comment, community members Wayne Martin and Dave Bowman were in favor of dissolving the district, stating that the commissioners had enough on their plate outside of the ambulance district.  

“You guys have your hands full. You have the budgets that are every year. You have huge land use issues that come before you. You're managing, directly or indirectly, all the personnel and accounting. The Comp Plan is nearing its end, but that's still a monumental task in front of you. Following that is going to be substantial and significant revisions of the county code that are going to require your full attention. You have the past history of the ambulance district that has been fraught with issues that have to be solved. And to me, you must separate entirely and form a new district,” said Bowman. 

Commissioners Asia Williams and Brian Domke — Commissioner Ron Korn was absent from the meeting — did not give their position on the district’s structure, as the discussion will be slated for a different meeting where all board members can effectively determine the best course of action.  

While a portion of Wednesday’s meeting was for the district to be informed on the structural options they had, it was noted that the district continues to make progress in separating itself from the county. The district has established its own legal and bookkeeping services, and obtained its own liability, risk and medical insurance.  

Additionally, the district’s board approved a request to withdraw from five urban renewal areas — Dover, Downtown Sandpoint, Sandpoint Northern, Priest River and Oldtown. URAs are areas that have been set aside to take tax dollars from different taxing districts and divert them to provide urban renewal services for that specific area.  

Chief Jeff Lindsey shared with the community that an estimated $70,000 of the district’s funds is distributed amongst the five URAs every year. Idaho House Bill 436, which was signed into law in April, would allow the ambulance district to request that those funds be put back into their budget.  

With the approval of the district’s request to withdraw from the URAs, BCEMS must wait for each URA to either approve or deny the request. Commissioner Williams noted that some of the requests could be approved, with the potential for them all to be denied depending on unknown legal criteria. The response from URA will determine the amount of cash that will be redirected to the district.