Special election December 18 on proposed fire, ambulance districts for rural Sturgis area. (Sturgis residents are not included in this vote)

News article from Gary Matthews, KBHB News Director

STURGIS, S.D. – Rural Sturgis area voters will be deciding December 18 on whether or not to start the discussion on a proposed fire and ambulance districts to serve them.

The Notice of Special Election for the West Central Fire and West Central Ambulance Districts was recently published by the Meade County Auditor’s Office.

Voters who reside in the Tilford #6, Alkali #6A, Harmony #8 and Bear Butte #9 are the only residents who will be voting.

Sturgis City Manager Daniel Ainslie told KBHB News this is an important election for these rural residents.

"It is something we have been talking with the county about for years and we finally now have been able to get this to a vote. What it does is establish two different boards, an ambulance board and a fire board. Those boards would then decide who would actually provide those contracts to those areas. What's important about it, frankly, is just a reality that as costs keep going up, the city of Sturgis isn't going to be able to continue to provide services for all of the areas out of its own treasury."

Ainslie says if the vote for the new districts fail, it’s possible the residents who live outside the 3 mile limit of Sturgis will not have the availability of ambulance support in the future.

"That's not something we want to think about it, but in reality, if the vote fails; the county has already canceled the agreement with the city of Sturgis and the city and county divided up the assets and the county paid a $60,000 bill for several years worth of services and so really, there is no legal request to ask for those services anymore. So if this vote fails, I imagine we are going to be shrinking our response area because we have to pay for the services."

Ainslie says similar situations are happening across the state, including the Meade County cities of Piedmont and Summerset.

He says they are joining with other communities across South Dakota in asking the state to begin looking at this problem and to hopefully find funding solutions for some of these districts. However, he doesn’t anticipate any changes for several years.

For election information, contact the Meade County Auditor's Office 347-2360