Mike VanHoose, who had held the director's post since March, resigned Monday.

VanHoose said the decision was difficult, and he cited political reasons as the force behind it.

``There was a lot of political pressure," he said. ``I was not going to be able to continue to do what was in the best interests of the citizens of Carter County."

VanHoose's resignation comes in the wake of a tumultuous year for the service.

In March Gary Stevens, a former Kentucky State Police trooper, was fired as director after serving in the position for three years.

And, on Sept. 27 Carter County magistrates voted to remove Judi James and Alberta Jones from the board of directors.

One of their replacements, John Morris, returned to the board after resigning earlier that month.

Carter County Judge-Executive Alice Joy Binion was in Frankfort and unavailable for comment.

Assistant Judge-Executive Frank Rice said Frank Sloas will serve as interim director.

VanHoose said he took over a service that needed a great deal of improvement.

``This service had been unsupervised for three years," he said. ``I had to bring it up to line and I did that."

Before coming to Carter County, VanHoose, a Paintsville native, had been a paramedic with the Georgetown/Scott County EMS.

He said he would ``absolutely" want to serve another ambulance service as director.

``I have enjoyed the eight months serving the people of Carter County," he said. ``I feel that we provided the type of EMS they deserve as taxpayers of this county, and I hope they agree with that."