Board Meeting November 2025
MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING OF THE NORTH FORK AMBULANCE HEALTH SERVICE DISTRICT
The Regular Monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of the North Fork Ambulance Health Service District located in the Counties of Delta, Montrose and Gunnison, Colorado, was held at 110 E. Hotchkiss Ave, Hotchkiss, Colorado, on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 at 11:00 a.m.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 11:04 am.
ROLL CALL
Board members present: Dave Kreutz, Peter Pruett, Bonnie Eisenberg, Tyrell Clock and Blake Kinser.
Others present: NF EMS - Kathy Steckel, Diane Perry, Tanya Applegate, Jake Dahlman, Deb Ferrier, Marie Stucker, David Gallob, Niki Carpenter, Brett Anderson, Cindy Felix, Brandon Pherson, Kimber Gallob, Tami Leaton. Paonia Fire: John Owen, Matt VanVleet, Gabe Harger and Taylor Johnson. Mychaela Belden, Suelyn Pemberton and Conrad attended virtually.
ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA
No additions to the agenda.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE
Conflict of Interest forms were filed with the Secretary of State.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Deb Ferrier, Matt Van Vleet, John Owen and Mychaela Belden spoke before the board.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes from the October 15, 2025 Regular Monthly Meeting were reviewed. Peter Pruett made a motion that the minutes be approved as written. The motion was seconded. All board members voted in favor.
REPORTS
PRESIDENT REPORT
Dave presented a confidential 3-page memorandum to the board from the attorney and all the board members had time to read it. Due to clarification needed from board members, Blake requested the attorney attend an executive session at the next board meeting. Dave asked Kathy to meet with Paonia Fire staff to address operational issues raised by Paonia Fire during public comment. Dave directed Kathy to develop training for all board members in the areas of special district, possibly a webinar or some other SDA training. Bonnie suggested that it also cover HIPAA laws. Blake requested training on state statutes as well.
FINANCE REPORT
Financials for October were presented and reviewed. Blake had a couple of things he would like us to consider: upgrades to the computer in the conference room, since it ran so slowly this time, and gravel for the landing zone at the Paonia station for use in wet weather.
DISTRICT CHIEF REPORT
Kathy Steckel gave an overview of her report. She noted another ambulance repair, which will cause us to go over our expected budget for vehicle repair. We might have to use the Contingency Fund to cover these costs. The district is still monitoring how the government shut down will affect our Medicare income.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
2026 budget format for DOLA: The board reviewed the proposed 3-page format. The format was acceptable to the board.
Hotchkiss Fire Lease: As a member of the committee looking into lease options, Blake gave an overview of their meeting. They felt that long term it would be ideal to be more centralized and have the ambulances here at HQ, but that $1,000/month is a reasonable amount to pay until we are ready to build. He thought it was important to be able to get out of the lease if we were ready to move sooner than 5 years, and the proposed lease seems to allow for that. They would like to amend the due date for the payment, since our tax revenue doesn't really start to come in until the middle of March, and have questions about how much the alarm costs might be. Kathy will ask them to make the due date change to the end of the first quarter and provide information about alarm costs, and will suggest that they have their lawyers review the contract before the next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
No new business.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
2026 Budget Hearing: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 11 am.
Next Regular Meeting: Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 11 am.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further matters before the board, Peter Pruett made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded. All board members voted in favor. Meeting was adjourned at 12:12 pm.