The replacement of North Country EMS’ western station has now received enough funding after the Clark County Council approved $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the project.
During an Aug. 31 work session, the county council unanimously approved the funds for the project to replace the emergency medical services’ station near Fargher Lake in north-central Clark County. The request is among many, both from withincounty government and from outside agencies like North Country EMS for ARPA funding. The county has received nearly $95 million through the act.
North Country EMS has been trying to replace the station, located at 15413 NE Fargher Lake Highway in Yacolt, for two years, district chief Shaun Ford told the council during an Aug. 3 “council time” meeting. At that meeting, Ford said the district made a similar ARPA request for nearly $1 million last year, but construction costs have increased dramatically.
The average bid the district received in May was about $5.2 million, about a quarter more than what was estimated seven months prior, according to a staff report.
“The longer we wait, the worse we are,” Ford said.
The district intends to replace the current 1,188-square-foot mobile home with a 5,000-square-foot facility, Ford said at the Aug. 31 meeting. The current facility was not adequate when providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a mobile home and any patient that came to see us had to walk right into our living area,” Ford said.
Ford said fire and emergency medical services stations were a common use of ARPA funds.
North Country EMS gets its operational funding through a regular levy and periodic excess levy. Those funds aren’t used for capital projects like the replacement, however. For those projects, the district receives about $300,000 annually through a combination of a federal Medicaid program and timber sales tax revenue, the staff report stated.
As of Aug. 3 North Country EMS had about $3 million in capital reserves, with the $2.5 million in ARPA funds intended to make up the remainder for the replacement, according to the staff report.
Previously, council inquired on any other revenue sources at the state and federal levels that could fund the replacement. Ford said the district looked at grant and loan programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but they weren’t feasible.
Ford said the USDA offered only $200,000 for the entire state for grants. The loan option would require a bond as collateral. Ford said the EMS district didn’t have authority to issue bonds.
At the state level, Ford said the district couldn’t request funding by itself through the state treasury department given how the district is set up. One of its constituent taxing districts could apply for a loan through that program, though they would take responsibility for its repayment. Clark County doesn’t qualify for state department of commerce grants, Ford added.
Clark County Finance Director Mark Gassaway worked with Ford to find those sources, but did not find anything that fit the project, Gassaway said.
“What we’ve found is this facility is such a niche type facility, it doesn’t fit within the … ‘nice’ silos that a lot of funding has come out for,” Gassaway said.
With secured funding, construction could begin soon. North Country EMS is currently waiting for final building permit approval from the county, “but it’s basically shovel-ready other than that,” Ford said.
North Country EMS covers much of the northeastern part of Clark County, and alongside the Fargher Lake station, the district has another station in Yacolt.
Councilor Gary Medvigy said the building replacement is a “perfect opportunity” for the funding.
“ARPA funds are appropriate for things that will last for generations, capital expenditures that we could never afford otherwise,” Medvigy said.
Councilor Richard Rylander recently visited the existing facility and talked about other alternatives for a replacement.
“Based on those discussions, I’m as comfortable as I can be that they’ve explored every avenue, and that without this funding, it’s unlikely to happen,” Rylander said.
