December 12, 2023 |
Photo – SCWEMS fleet – Courtesy SCWEMS.org
The Town of Saratoga has agreed to a new SCWEMS contract.
Earlier this year, the South-Central Wyoming Emergency Medical Services joint powers board began updating the agency’s written agreement with Carbon County and six member towns. SCWEMS representatives have been visiting municipalities to explain the changes and get approval from their town councils. The SCWEMS joint powers board has made several changes requested by the towns and is in the process of revisiting members to receive final approval for the amended agreement.
At the December 5th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, SCWEMS board member Irene Archibald explained some of the changes to the agency’s written agreement. Archibald said language was added to say that SCWEMS may not always have enough volunteers to respond to a medical call.
Archibald said the agreement was originally changed to only allow a town to leave the organization after receiving the approval of every remaining entity. After consulting with several attorneys, Archibald said the document was amended to remove that obstacle.
A participating entity must still notify SCWEMS of its intention to leave by April 15th. Archibald said if a town leaves the medical transportation provider for any reason, it must wait five years before requesting to rejoin. Archibald said being ejected from SCWEMS for non-payment carries the same five-year penalty.
To pay for coverage, SCWEMS charges member municipalities $34 per person based on the most recent census population data. Archibald said the new agreement will clearly lay out how much the medical transportation agency requires from each town.
The last main change to the agreement is to reimburse Carbon County itself should SCWEMS dissolve, said Archibald. The SCWEMS board member said the original 2009 contract didn’t provide any financial restitution to the county.
Commission Chairwoman Sue Jones said SCWEMS participation is important to every resident of Carbon County. Chairwoman Jones said SCWEMS is the only medical transportation service available to people living outside of Memorial Hospital of Carbon County coverage.
The board motioned to sign the amended SCWEMS agreement. Archibald said she is waiting for Elk Mountain, Hanna, Medicine Bow, Riverside, and Encampment to also sign.
The Saratoga town council agreed to sign the SCWEMS contract. At the December 5th meeting, Mayor Chuck Davis said Saratoga’s SCWEMS representative Marie Christen asked the council to sign the agreement.
The Saratoga town council voted to allow Mayor Davis to sign the amended SCWEMS agreement after town attorney Kylie Waldrip approves of the document.
All participating municipalities must agree to the changes before the amended contract can take effect.
