Shoshoni Chief of Police Kris Konija jumped into action as soon as he received the call.
A 72-year-old woman had suffered a sudden heart attack as she was traveling through town.
Konija and Sgt. Jeff Leafgreen arrived within minutes and started giving the woman CPR. In a town whose population is approximately 500, arriving quickly wasn’t hard.
Frontier Ambulance — the company with which Fremont County currently has a contract for service — was dispatched. But the ambulance was in Riverton, 22 miles away.
Konija and Leafgreen continued life-saving measures on the woman for 40 minutes before the ambulance arrived.
“We’re in Shoshoni, doing CPR on a sidewalk,” Konija told Cowboy State Daily. “That was definitely the impetus to say we need to do something. That was the final straw.”
As Fremont County officials weigh their options for how to fund ambulance services, commercial air services and public transportation, Shoshoni has taken ambulance service into its own hands. Last November, it became the first town in the state to staff an ambulance service with its police department.
Sales Tax Proposal
In October, the Fremont County Association of Governments (FCAG) organized a new committee to focus on funding ambulance, commercial air and public transportation services. The Joint Committee on Funding Key Services researched what it currently costs to fund the services and brought a 0.75% sales tax proposal to county commissioners.
The proposal could land on an August 2026 ballot in Fremont County, allowing voters to decide whether to move forward with it.
But Fremont County Commission Chairman Larry Allen told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that county officials are still gathering information and considering options.
For the sales tax proposal to reach voters, the resolution had to be approved by county commissioners and at least half of the county’s six municipalities. The commissioners narrowly passed the resolution earlier this month in a 3-2 vote, and three municipalities — Riverton, Lander and Hudson — voted to put the measure on the August ballot.
However, the proposal has been controversial, with officials in the three other municipalities — Dubois, Shoshoni and Pavillion — against it. One sticking point is that the sales tax would fund three public services, as opposed to only one.
Fremont County is the second largest county in Wyoming, encompassing just under 9,200 square miles.
Pavillion Mayor Matt Pattison previously spoke with Cowboy State Daily about how spread out the county is.
“You’ve got all these small communities,” Pattison said. “We’re so spread out. And you (would have) people paying on a tax that don’t have access to that service.
“If I’m paying a tax, I should be able to receive that service,” he said.
Dubois Mayor Patricia Neveaux previously told Cowboy State Daily she does not support the proposed sales tax, because she does not want taxpayer money to support airport and ground transportation. Dubois residents typically fly out of Jackson, which is in Teton County, she said.
Another point of contention is a lack of clarity over how the tax monies would be distributed across municipalities.
Ambulance Service Through the Years
Fremont County has been exploring how to fund its key public services for months. It has subsidized ambulance services with the for-profit Frontier Ambulance for several years.
But costs continue to get more expensive, said Konija, Shoshoni’s Chief of Police.
“You have a system of low accountability providing service with a taxpayer subsidy that’s ever increasing and no local control over how those services are delivered,” Konija told Cowboy State Daily.
Addressing The Problem Head-On
Konija said he did some research, looking at how other rural agencies handle their ambulance services. Shoshoni could operate an all-volunteer ambulance service, he said, but when a service depends entirely on volunteers, timing is often a challenge.
“You don’t always know who’s available (to respond),” he said.
He said he came across some agencies in Utah who were in a similar situation as Shoshoni — a small town miles away from a larger hub.
“We pulled off some other models of how we could make this work,” Konija said. “We are building it from scratch.”
Beginning in November 2025, every officer who joined the Shoshoni Police Department was to receive EMT training. Officers are paid a standard salary for police work. As trained EMTs, they get paid an additional $50 for every EMT run they are a part of.
“It’s in the city budget,” Konija said.
Cody Regional Health donated an ambulance to the town of Shoshoni. Konija said the police department used leftover COVID money to acquire some basic medical equipment for the ambulance.
The police department started providing emergency medical services to the community three days a week – Thursdays through Saturdays. In December 2025, it moved to providing services seven days a week.
Part of why the model works is that Shoshoni, being a rural community, does not receive a lot of calls for ambulance services.
“We’re not trying to get crazy with it,” Konija said. “I’m just the type that when I see an issue or a problem I like to address it head on.”
Slow Expansion
Konija said he hopes the town’s ambulance service will expand, with EMTs having opportunities to take additional certifications. The ambulance service qualifies as a Basic Life Support (BLS) service now. Konija said he hopes it will eventually become an Advanced Life Support (ALS) service.
The priority now, he said, is to speed up transport.
“Being on wrecks and other emergencies, I’ve sometimes seen a helicopter arrive before an ambulance arrives,” he said. “Many patients don’t need to be flown, but there is (sometimes) no other mode to get them transported. We’re going to be able to bridge that gap.”
More To Discuss
Meanwhile, how public services will continue to be funded throughout Fremont County remains a talking point.
Allen said county commissioners will make a final decision by the end of April about whether to send the ¾% tax proposal to Fremont County voters.
“We had a lengthy discussion yesterday,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “We voted for it (the proposal), but we still have time to make adjustments.”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
