Council gives ‘OK’ to start talks between Stanley and Thorp for shared ambulance

Stanley Fire Chief Korey Hagenson would like closer cooperation with Thorp Ambulance on things like ambulance service.

Among the benefits of said cooperation, would be an ambulance in the station house on Stanley’s First Avenue. Hagenson presented the outlines of the idea to the Stanley Police and Fire Committee prior to the regular meeting on Monday.

Central to the cooperative proposal put forward by Ha- genson are mutual benefitsfor each party, the focus currently being on ambulance service rather than things fire relat ed. The strong working relationship between Stanley and Thorp was cited as a factor in the proposed cooperative relationship. Hagenson said the department had tried to work with Boyd.

“I call Thorp, and the whole crew is there,” he said of response. In addition, Thorp like Stanley is on board with the MABAS system for mutual assistance. From there it was into questions and perspectives on the idea. "I think if it's something that's going to happen it would need to be discussed by the two boards," Stanley Mayor Al Haas shared his thoughts. Council member Laurie Foster had a question.

"How would this affect the working relationship with Boyd?" she asked, no clear answer as of yet.

With still more questions asked, the idea for closer cooper – ation between Stanley and Thorp was moved from committee to the regular council meeting, motion made by Huff and sec – onded by Foster. A council motion (also by Huff and Foster) then approved the meeting of the fire committees in each com – munity to look into the idea of cooperating closer on services.

"There'll be a lot of time involved," Mark Fitzsimmons said. As to Boyd-Edson-Delmar, Fire and Ambulance Chief Ron Patten wasn't aware of the cooperation idea for Stanley and Thorp when asked about it.

"That I haven't heard anything about," he said. "It's possi – ble but no one has talked to me about it. We're still taking care of the City of Stanley."