In a reversal of opinion, Allen County commissioners said Tuesday morning they would accept three appointees Iola Mayor Bill Shirley made to an ambulance study committee.
Two weeks ago county commissioners expressed disdain for Shirley’s appointment of former Iola mayors Bill Maness and John McRae and long-time local radio newsman Mike Russell.
Another change is the committee will be expanded from six to eight or nine, the majority being from outside Iola.
The ambulance study committee is a provision of a five-year moratorium on ambulance negotiations. The agreement had called for creation of a six-member study committee, three from Iola and three from elsewhere in the county.
The agreement expires Dec. 31, 2015. Also part of the agreement is an $80,000 a year subsidy paid by the county to support Iola’s ambulance service.
To move ahead, commissioners said they would appoint “five or six” committee members to represent the county, which is outside the scope of the agreement, and a strategy that Shirley turned down when it was proposed earlier.
Now, Shirley is receptive, said Commissioner Gary McIntosh.
“I visited with Bill and he said five members from the county would be fine with him,” McIntosh told the Register late Tuesday afternoon.
“The rest of the county deserves (adequate) representation,” said Commissioner Dick Works, with the assumption that three would not be sufficient.
Commissioners want Humboldt and Moran, where county ambulances are stationed, and other towns to be represented on the committee as well as rural areas.
Two potential appointees, whom commissioners said had agreed to serve, are Sheriff Tom Williams and Kent Thompson, a former county commissioner.
Two weeks ago commissioners said they thought Shirley’s appointees, particularly Maness and McRae, had too much history with the ambulance issue to be objective.
Commissioner McIntosh softened that position by saying if “the people (named to the committee) aren’t analyzing and negotiating in good faith, we can quit.” Although, “if we tell Bill (Shirley) who to appoint, that’s wrong, too.
“We need to find ways to change to one service,” rather than one service for Iola and another for the rest of the county, he added.
In discussion about a larger number of county representatives, Works said he had “heard from many (county residents outside Iola) that we need more on the committee.”
Commissioners will make a list of candidates and make their appointments soon.
