At the last meeting of the court in November, three names were approved to oversee the ambulance district operations. Representing Magistrate Jimmy Mooney’s Dixon/Clay district is Max Collins. He will be serving a two-year term on the board.

Collins is a semi-retired farmer and businessman. He is a member of West Kentucky Bank’s board of directors and has served as chairman of the Tradewater River Conservancy District for several years.

“I don’t really know much about it,” commented Collins. “I expect to learn as I go.”

Tara Jackson was selected to represent Magistrate Jerry Brown’s Sebree/Poole/Onton/ Slaughters district. Her term will be for one year.

Jackson is a relatively recent graduate of Madisonville Community College and is a physical therapy assistant and Facility Therapy manager at Colonial Terrace Nursing Home in Sebree. She is married to Kent Jackson, and is the daughter of Chris and Verna Hedrick and has one son.

Jackson said she was looking forward to serving on the board. “I was raised to be involved in the community and to help better it,” said Jackson. “I think this will be a great learning experience.”

Magistrate Tom Glover’s district includes the city Providence and its surrounding area. However, since Providence has their own ambulance service, it is excluded from the special district. Therefore, Diann Riden, who lives outside the city limits, was selected as a representative from this district. Riden will serve a two-year term on the board.

Riden is married to Bill Riden and works in their joint auction/realty business as office manager and secretary. Prior to joining the auction business, Riden worked in the medical field as a unit secretary.

“I feel like it will be a challenge but I want to do something good for the county,” commented Riden. “I’m looking forward to working with everybody.”

Townsend commented on the new ambulance board selection. “Basically we were looking for someone who was open-minded and would be willing to make a decision on what needs to be done in the future with the ambulance service,” said Townsend. “They will be making the decisions on how to spend the money that the tax generates. That will include the purchasing of equipment or whatever. It will be their responsibility.”

According to Townsend, the board will also be responsible for setting the ambulance district tax rate for the county also. “The court set it for the first year,” said Townsend, “but they (the board) will be setting the tax rate from that point on.”

However, Townsend said the board won’t be operating in the dark as far as tax rate setting is concerned.

“The state sends down recommendations based upon a compensating rate which would bring in the same amount of money,” said Townsend. “They can go up to a four percent increase. But to do that they would have to hold a hearing. I suspect they would go with the compensating rate most of the time, if it generates enough to run the service.”

Members of the board will be meeting three to four times a year unless an emergency situation arises.

“They will operate similar to the extension council board,” said Townsend. “They will set up a budget which Paula (Guinn, county treasurer) will assist with on the income and expenses part, based on what we’ve been doing in the past.”

According to Townsend board members will not have to concern themselves with actually writing checks to pay the bills and payroll.

“All the money will run through the treasurer’s office,” Townsend said. “The bills will all be paid by the county treasurer.”

Although the board is expected to make all the decisions concerning how the ambulance service is run, how the money is spent still has to be approved by the Fiscal Court.

“I don’t foresee any problem at all there,” commented Townsend. “The people that have been selected are all conservative and won’t be extravagant in their spending. They will be willing to really look at expenditures in detail.”

Since none of the board members have previously served on an ambulance board, training has been arranged through the Department of Local Government (DOLG) in Frankfort.

“They will receive training from the DOLG because there are special guidelines from the state that they will have to follow,” said Townsend. “We’re hoping to have that accomplished sometime the first part of January.”

Townsend stated he was pleased with the diversity of representation the board members bring with them.

“Max has been involved in county government for a long time as a business person and advisor,” Townsend said. “He brings a perspective from the older community. Diann represents those in the middle-age group and Ms. Jackson will bring in the younger point of view.”