Fremont County was bracing to lose ambulance service by Thursday, but officials in a Tuesday meeting announced a last-minute, $5 million agreement to keep the wagons running.
Under the new agreement, Priority Ambulance — operating locally as Frontier Ambulance — gets a two-year contract renewal with Fremont County instead of the three-year deal for which it had negotiated.
And Fremont County is giving employees a 5% raise for the first year, a 4% raise for the second, and taking on dispatch costs, according to a rundown Commissioner Mike Jones gave during a Tuesday meeting of the commission.
The county also commits to recognizing the ambulance workers’ collective bargaining union and to work on equipment and building improvements during the next two years, Jones said.
These last-minute negotiations avert the complete fallout of ambulance service, expected Thursday, for which locals were bracing.
That was the date of the contract’s original end.
Plus, ambulance workers gathered under the local United Steel Workers Local 9012 union initially planned to go on strike three days prior, largely out of frustrations with the county courting Cody Regional Health, which they saw as risk-heavy, according to union president Dominick Sapien.
When the workers found that their contract wouldn’t let them go on strike early, they decided to plan a “symbolic” strike for Thursday, the day they’d be out of work anyway, said Sapien.
He said Tuesday he is delighted neither strike will happen.
“For the first time in a week and a half, I feel like I’ve been able to take a deep breath,” said Sapien.
As soon as commissioners made the announcement Tuesday morning, said Sapien, he started telling the workers, “Everybody relax, you have jobs.”
He said the workers were also concerned about the lapse in ambulance services and are “really glad everyone came together.”
Hold Up
Not everyone was happy.
Shoshoni Mayor Joel Highsmith voiced concern over the two-year contract, which he cast as too long.
Highsmith told commissioners at their Tuesday meeting he hoped the Fremont County Association of Governments (FCAG) could take on the ambulance service sooner because FCAG could establish a volunteer paramedic structure to serve small towns, and Priority will not.
“I just don’t understand why it’s at least one more year than I thought was going to be the longest,” said Highsmith.
FCAG intends to take on the service, incorporate tribal leadership in its structure and bolster the service with federal grants, according to testimony given Tuesday.
Jones acknowledged the agreement is “not perfect” but said negotiators did their best to mollify the service, which had been pushing for a three-year contract.
The two-year contract compromise, said Jones, keeps the local government's Rural Healthcare Transformation Program grants intact.
“I know it’s not what everyone wants but, fortunately, we’ve done the best we can,” said Jones. “And we’re happy to be where we ‘re at.”
The county plans to pay $2.32 million for the first year, $2.42 million for the second year and $617,498 for the lingering final three months of the contract because it doesn’t expire until December 2028, Jones said.
The ambulance had requested $2.1 million from the county for the 2027 fiscal year during the commission’s budget process earlier this year.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
