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911 Transfer Stability, New Patrol Deputies

A request for the personnel and equipment to become Door County Medical Center’s (DCMC) ambulance transport cleared another step by moving out of the Door County Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Tuesday. 

The partnership agreement has yet to be developed between DCMC and the county, but Brian Stephens, DCMC’s CEO, who appeared at the Sept. 13 committee meeting, confirmed the concept of DCMC reimbursing the county’s expenses for the service, creating a net-zero impact to the budget and tax levy.

Currently, the expenses are estimated at $610,524 for eight new staff members and start-up costs of roughly $265,981, which include a new ambulance, according to the initial estimates. DCMC would cover the county’s expenses each year, including the start-up costs. All the terms of the partnership would be spelled out in an agreement that would be created. 

“We feel the county’s ask is an aggressive ask in terms of the staffing, but we’re willing to cover it, and the reason is stability,” Stephens said during the committee meeting. “We have not had stability for the past four years.”

DCMC does not have its own ambulance service, and the private provider it once used stopped the service about four years ago. The Door County ambulance service can transfer patients out of the county more quickly than rigs driving up from Green Bay, but the county service is a public, taxpayer-supported service that’s not currently equipped to do regular transports.

The committee action moves the concept of creating the county’s 911 transfer department to the joint Administrative/Finance Committee, which will meet next on Sept. 22, 9 am.

Also expected to be included on that joint meeting agenda will be the Door County Sheriff’s Office’s request for three new patrol deputies and a patrol sergeant, plus a request from the Door County Judiciary and Public Safety Committee to allow the sheriff to start the onboarding process for the new positions for this year. If Sheriff Tammy Sternard waited until after the first of the year, she said the new deputies wouldn’t be ready for the road until September 2023.

“So I would be going into summer shorthanded, and I’ll have to cover that gap with overtime,” she said.