Ambulance and fire join

It's official — Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department is now providing the Village's emergency medical service.

Bigfork Ambulance voted a final time on a resolution to transfer its assets and dissolve its organization at a meeting July 14.

Discussions began in May about the possibility of disbanding the ambulance and merging with the Bigfork Volunteer Fire Department due to struggles with getting volunteers to respond or sign up to take calls in addition to other internal conflicts.

Local attorney Randy Snyder prepared the documents for the transfer that he presented to Bigfork Ambulance at the meeting. Assets of Bigfork Ambulance are first being transferred to fellow 501(c)3 Friends of Bigfork Fire, since the organization does not have the ability to transfer to Bigfork Fire directly due to constraints of its non-profit charter. This two-step transfer creates the proper paperwork trail for any audit by the Internal Revenue Service to show a proper transaction, Snyder said. Friends of Bigfork Fire will serve as the middle agency and is then passing on the assets to the fire department. The exception will be that Friends of Bigfork Fire will hang on to two earmarked funds, including a $91,000 building fund, to maintain them for their originally intended uses.

The transfer of funds from bank accounts started July 15. Bills of sale for the departments' physical assets and vehicles will also be transferred between the three agencies. The details of the transfer are outlined in a letter of intent adopted with the resolution.

Following the completion of the transfer and tying up other loose ends, the ambulance will sign and file paperwork with the Montana Secretary of State's Office to dissolve its non-profit organization.

The one sticking point in the transfer arose when Jim Sticka, president of Friends of Bigfork Fire, asked that language on payroll liability be removed from the letter of intent.

"I don't want to be saddled with a lawsuit because we're named," Sticka said. "We'll have the money for a half hour. That's it."

Any claims would force the organization to hire an attorney to represent it in the case of a lawsuit, he said.

Bigfork Ambulance has four paid employees, a few of whom expressed concerns that they should be protected for unemployment claims in the case that their positions are eliminated.

Snyder said it could be addressed by either leaving a Bigfork Ambulance account open for a set period of time and retaining funds just for that purpose or having just the Bigfork Fire Department assume that responsibility, since it is the beneficiary of the funds.

Snyder said he was unsure who is responsible for unemployment claims when an organization dissolves and would like to do further research.

"All we want to know is that we can be protected," ambulance administrator Tracy Norred said.

The organization agreed to add language to a list of items that would need to be cleared up before it is finally dissolved that included that dissolution would be subject to some sort of resolution on payroll liability which is acceptable with the Bigfork Ambulance employees.

Following discussion, the motion to accept the resolution to transfer assets and dissolve passed unanimously.

In addition to the letter of intent, the organization also passed a waiver of notice for the special meeting, even though board members said it had been given the 10 business day notice and all members were contacted. The document was just a precaution, Snyder said.

Fire chief Wayne Loeffler praised the work of the staff of both departments in preparing for the fire department to accept the ambulance's assets and responsibilities.

"Its been a pretty busy last couple weeks. They've done a tremendous amount of work," Loeffler said. "They've gotten a two full page list down to half a page."

Loeffler said he anticipated all fire and ambulance volunteers and staff to be operating as one by Wednesday.

"What I've seen in the last month is nothing but positive," Loeffler said. "We can be as good as we want to be… We're not fire or ambulance. We're one."

Loeffler said cross-training will take place at least for support for the other service and that all firefighters will be trained as EMT first responders or more by November.

Loeffler said he hoped to have the standard operating guidelines handbook updated by the beginning of September to incorporate both services.

He told ambulance members that there would be opportunities for advancement in the organization if they were interested.

Even though Friends of Bigfork Fire is just the middle man for the asset transfer, the organization will now also take on fundraising for emergency medical services as well.

No changes were needed to any documentation of the organization to facilitate that expansion, Sticka said.

In light of that, the organization met Saturday and added four more board of director positions, bringing the total board up to nine members.

Friends of Bigfork Fire hopes to add a second annual fundraiser to raise funds specifically for emergency medical services and the need for a new ambulance in the future.

This will be in addition to the existing Brats, Burgers and Band fundraiser for the fire department in the fall.

Sticka said he didn't know what shape that fundraiser would take yet, but that it would probably take place in May or June.