Ambulance district continues search for treasurer

WALLACE — In the wake of losing their treasurer, the Shoshone County Ambulance Service District (SCASD) has turned to the county commissioners for help.

When Jerry Brantz resigned in February, it left a hole on the board that simply cannot be replaced according to SCASD board chairman Bruce Van Broeke.

Since then, Van Broeke and the other advisory board members have looked up and down the Silver Valley for someone to fill his shoes. And while replacing what Brantz did for the board seems impossible, they’ve had no success finding any person to fill that position.

As mentioned, SCASD is a volunteer-based, advisory board that operates under the purview of the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). This group handles the county’s EMS programs and contracts, fiscal accountability, as well as the operations and oversight of the district itself — this includes funding for various training and purchasing equipment and vehicles.

The district itself is a taxing entity — so the funds generated from those taxes are handled by the county’s administration already — however, SCASD does operate on its own independent budget that must be submitted and approved by the BOCC annually.

From there, each month the board submits their invoices to the BOCC for approval, and aren’t required to seek the commissioners’ approval for anything that was included in that approved budget.

They do, however, have to get BOCC approval to use that money for things not included in the approved budget, or if the amount of one of the district’s expenditures has increased and requires additional funds.

Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman has only been in the weeds with the ambulance district since January, but he has taken an interest in helping them through this period when their most financially savvy member has stepped down.

His suggestion is for the county to take control of the money from the district and handle the bookkeeping and issuing of checks, payments, etc… while the board continues to operate as it does now.

“It would be easier on you guys,” Zimmerman told the SCASD board members in attendance on Wednesday. “You guys are all volunteers and to put a liability on you guys is kinda unfair. It would be easier to do it the other way. But I wanted to ask, what would be the difference?”

Zimmerman also made it expressly clear that his suggestion was only based upon making things easier on the ambulance board, not some sort of attempted coup to take control of the ambulance district.

“If you guys want to handle it, it’s fine,” Zimmerman said. “What I’m saying is, that we have that resource — that the county can do that. Bruce (Van Broeke) doesn’t want to do it, so I’ve been looking at what avenues we can do.”

The liability that was mentioned ties to SCASD currently being in a position to essentially write checks now with public dollars and get them approved later — and while no evidence exists to suggest any sort of malfeasance on the part of the SCASD board, chairman Van Broeke had put much of that bookkeeping responsibility on the trusted shoulders of Brantz, who had been willing to carry that load.

“We’re not looking at taking anything from anybody, that’s nothing to do with it,” Zimmerman said. “We want to make your job the easiest you can do — we don’t want to put stuff on you that you don’t want to do.”

Any sort of change won’t be able to take place until the next fiscal year, which begins in October — so until that time, the SCASD board is going to have to do one of a few potential options: Either they make do with the current group and figure out a solution along the way, they find a person to replace Brantz’s workload as board treasurer, or they and the county hire an accountant.

The Shoshone County Ambulance Service District will meet on April 20, where they’ll discuss their options and potentially make a decision on this aspect of the board’s future.

If anyone with a financial background would like to join the SCASD, please contact the county at 208-752-3331.