Three Townships Announce Exit From Perham Area EMS Joint Board
At an Oct. 29 Perham Committee of the Whole session, city officials disclosed that Star Lake, Otto and Dead Lake townships have notified the Perham Area EMS Joint Powers Board they will withdraw at year’s end. The departures raise questions about funding, governance and the future of local ambulance coverage, and officials say the JPB will decide its path at a January 2026 meeting.
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City Administrator Jon Smith told the Perham Committee of the Whole on Oct. 29 that three area townships—Star Lake, Otto and Dead Lake—have formally given notice they will leave the Perham Area EMS Joint Powers Board (JPB) effective Dec. 31. The announcement puts pressure on the board’s membership and prompts the council’s representative to ask for direction on whether to support continuing the current joint-powers model or pursue alternate arrangements if participation shrinks.
Perham’s EMS Director, Becca Huebsch, provided a fiscal frame for the discussion, estimating average taxpayer cost to support the service at roughly $13 to $24 per year. Huebsch also cautioned that costs can spike significantly when ambulances need to be replaced, pointing to capital-replacement pressures that can alter year-to-year cost burdens for participating jurisdictions.
The first scheduled JPB meeting of 2026, in January, is expected to be pivotal: board members will assess whether to maintain the existing joint-powers structure, modify it to reflect a smaller membership, or disband the JPB entirely. That decision would shape how emergency medical services are governed, funded and delivered across Perham and the neighboring townships that remain.
A reduction in membership on the JPB has immediate governance and financial implications. Joint powers arrangements spread operational and capital costs across multiple jurisdictions; when contributors withdraw, remaining members may face larger shares of ongoing operating expenses and future capital outlays, or need to renegotiate service levels and intergovernmental agreements. The Perham council’s forthcoming deliberations will need to weigh those fiscal trade-offs alongside service continuity considerations.
Local residents are being encouraged to engage in the process: officials asked community members to attend upcoming township meetings to raise questions and voice preferences as each township finalizes its decisions. Civic participation will inform township boards and the Perham representative as they navigate potential options, from revised cost-sharing formulas to alternative governance models or contractual service relationships.
The timeline is short: the townships’ notices take effect at the end of the year, and the JPB’s January 2026 meeting will set the course for the region’s EMS structure. For a community that relies on timely emergency response and predictable public finance, the coming weeks will determine how those services are organized and funded going forward.
