The Kalona and Wellman city councils each agreed Monday to split the cost of housing an ambulance in the northern tier of Washington County.

According to the agreement approved by both councils, two ambulances – one full-time and one on-call – will be housed in a retrofitted maintenance shop located at 2285 133rd St., on the former Shiloh property south of Kalona.

“There is a building there that the city of Kalona will have possession of,” Wellman City Administrator Kelly Litwiller said. “It’s a brand new machine shed that fits the criteria of what the state requires.”

Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said, “This is a great facility that we can retrofit and make useable in short order for not a ton of money.”

The cost to renovate the building for use by the county ambulance service is estimated at $45,000.

Kalona and Wellman will each put a maximum of $22,500 toward the renovations.

“In order to go into that facility, there needs to be a kitchenette put in, some living quarters, a bathroom and a drain in the floor,” Litwiller said.

Schlbaugh said that there will also be some concrete work for two employee parking spots and to extend the pad to the north.

The city of Kalona would have a contract with the new county ambulance service to use the facility for three years rent-free.

“This an opportunity for the city to have an ambulance closer to our residents,” Schlabaugh said. “This lets us test the waters a little bit with (Ambulance Director) Jeremy (Peck) and his crew.”

Schlabaugh explained that one full-time crew would be based at the location as the county’s second ambulance.

“The fourth ambulance would be staffed by on-call, which ideally would be made up of Wellman, Kalona and Riverside EMS volunteers who would be on call for the Washington County Ambulance,” he said.

The city of Riverside had been part of initial discussions, but the Riverside City Council voted to break off talks after the other cities did not want the northern ambulance based in Riverside.

“They wanted something to be housed at their fire department,” Wellman Mayor Ryan Miller said. “That doesn’t do anything for us.”

Wellman and Kalona continued negotiations with the county on their own.

“To have it all on one far side of the county makes absolutely no sense,” Wellman City Council Member Shannon McCain said. “To say ‘we’re doing it in Riverside, and if not, we’re out’ is pretty selfish. The fact that it’s to this point is asinine.”

Litwiller said that there is still a possibility that Riverside could contribute.

“Riverside is out at this point,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. They have made contact since then.”

The Riverside City Council met Monday, but there was no discussion of the ambulance service.