STE. GENEVIEVE – The minutes of the September 15, 2025 meeting have been released.
STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY
AMBULANCE DISTRICT
Regular Open – Board Meeting Minutes
Place: Ste. Genevieve County Ambulance District House 1
3 Basler Dr, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670
September 15, 2025
CALL TO ORDER:
Ernie Weiler called the regular meeting to order at 5:15 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chairperson, Ernie Weiler, Sub-District 1
Vice Chairperson, Bill Everett, Sub-District 4
Secretary, Nick Werner, Sub-District 3
Treasurer, Carl “CJ” Okenfuss, Sub-District 5
Member, Dennis Jokerst, Sub-District 2
Member, Nathan Wolk, Sub-District 6
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: None
EMPLOYEES PRESENT:
Kendall Shrum, EMT-P, Administrator
Dawn Sevier, EMT-P, Operations Supervisor
Mary Grieshaber, Office Manager
Carissa Petero, EMT-B
RECOGNIZE VISITORS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT: None
EMPLOYEES TO ADDRESS THE BOARD: None
BOARD MEETING MINUTES: A motion was made and the August 18th Tax Hearing Meeting minutes were approved:
APPROVAL OF TAX HEARING MEETING MINUTES:
Made the motion: Bill Everett
Seconded the motion: Nathan Wolk
In favor: All
Opposed: None
A motion was made and the August 18th Regular Board Meeting minutes were approved:
APPROVAL OF REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES:
Made the motion: Dennis Jokerst
Seconded the motion: Nathan Wolk
In favor: All
Opposed: None
TREASURER’S REPORT
We cashed in one of the CDs to make the first draw payment for the House 3 construction. It is not shown as an income. The money was just transferred and payments show as an expense. The accountant will advise whether the CD will show as an income. We have an option to move the money back to a CD when construction is completed and the lease is setup. The negative net income is due to paying out the House 3 construction costs.
We are still waiting on the GEMT grant money. The amount will not be as good as expected. Kendall will ask the consultants for a better explanation of why the amount fluctuates so much when our run volume remains steady.
Philadelphia Life is life insurance. Feathershark is our IT company. Bening Ford is for repairs on our trucks. Community Asset Builders are the grant writers. Due to no grants, they have extended their services for another calendar year. $10 billion has just been released for all the states for next year for grants. Citizens Electric is for the pole and power line for the House 3 construction. Citizens Electric extended us ½ off discount which came to $2825. The price is for setting the pole and running the wire overhead. We will still have the cost to BT Electric to run the electric to the building.
A motion was made to approve the bills and checks for payment as presented:
APPROVAL OF BILL PAYMENTS AS PRESENTED:
Made the motion: Dennis Jokerst
Seconded the motion: CJ Okenfuss
In favor: All
Opposed: None
A motion was made to approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented:
APPROVAL OF TREASURER’S REPORT:
Made the motion: Nathan Wolk
Seconded the motion: CJ Okenfuss
In favor: All
Opposed: None
A motion was made to approve write-offs in the amount of $12,275.85 as presented:
APPROVAL OF WRITE-OFFS OF $12,275.85:
Made the motion: CJ Okenfuss
Seconded the motion: Bill Everett
In favor: All
Opposed: None
DIRECTOR ‘S REPORT:
August
Total Calls 236
Emergency 165
House 1 89
House 2 40
House 3 36
Transfers 66
House 1 23
House 2 19
House 3 24
PR/Standbys 5
House 1 0
House 2 4
House 3 1
2025 YTD Calls 1889
August 2024 Calls 250
Emergency 176
Transfers 68
PR/Standbys 6
2024 YTD Calls 1804
August 2023 Total Calls 226
Emergency 167
Transfers 57
PR/Standbys 2
2023 YTD Calls 1745
Equipment
We are still having problems with 8987. It is shaking when it gets 70-75 mph but when it is sent to a shop, they are having issues simulating the problem.
The Zoll monitor is back in service after some repairs. The WIFIs have been updated.
Staff
We have hired paramedic to replace the opening we have. She will be starting later this month. PRN staff filled in the majority of the open shifts that we have had. There are only a few shifts per month that is filled by overtime. We are also looking to add a few more PRN staff.
Houses
House 1 has been having problems with the AC on the crew side. There have been a few calls for repairs in the last month. The AC units here are 30 years old. We will need to start replacing the units. It is likely a good idea to reserve an amount annually for the house maintenance items.
Training The high school EMT class students from last school year are still testing. There is a new adaptive EMT test which is giving everyone problems passing. One of the students will have to do a refresher course as he has failed the test three times. The other two students are scheduled to retest again. There are three students again this school year. Hopefully they will open the class up to Valle and other schools in the upcoming years for more students.
Staff will be written up if they are not completing their in-house CEUs. The classes are assigned on-line and can be completed while they are on shift. We will also be requiring staff to be off duty when completing required courses such as ACLS or PALS.
911
2026 is the year of the planned changeover from analog to digital.
Meetings
There have been emails set-up for each board member. Kendall sent out a google link to setting up the email. Having a District email is recommended and it keeps board members from having their personal email investigated if there ever any issue that arises. We are going switch from Teams to Google drive for the board meetings. It will give you access to all the board packets. Kendall will send out step by step instructions on setting up the emails. He will also send out the contact for Feathershark if anyone needs additional support setting up their email or google drive account.
A motion was made to approve the Director’s Report
APPROVAL OF DIRECTOR’S REPORT:
Made the motion: CJ Okenfuss
Seconded the motion: Bill Everett
In favor: All
Opposed: None
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
House 3
Currently, they are hanging the garage ceiling. The install of the as ACLS garage doors will be next week. Several questions we have are still being monitored. The inside of the garage is supposed to be metaled but there looks to be a need for the adjustment of the electric. The gas line is not been run yet. Maybe it will run under ceiling. Awnings are on but may yet need to be shingled. The plumbers need to come back for exhaust fans for the bathrooms. The storm shelter needs to ordered soon. The fitting on PVC is sticking out and it should be flush. The concrete in the bays and on the porches will be sealed. They are waiting for the landing lights on the helipad before they pour the concrete. They will use a pulverizer on the skid steer to taper out the dirt to break up clods and sticks. The loan papers are signed and all goes payments are made through Bloomsdale Bank to the Abstract office.
We will check to see if seeding and strawing is in the bid. It would be nice to get the yard sowed in this fall. The driveway needs to go in first. Mid-December is the deadline for the construction to be completed but hopefully it will be done by the end of November.
Ernie inquired about contacting the interested party for the purchase of the current house. Kendall will reach out to the attorney to see if we have to offer it to the public or if we have the option to sell it outright to anyone.
NEW BUSINESS
Budget
It will be a tough budget to plan for this year with a lot of things to consider. We are looking at postponing the age 55 retirement option. It was recommended to look at the current cost of living index. It is possibly around 3%. Kendall will do a survey to see if employees prefer raises or if the age 55 retirement would be the majority employees’ priority.
We are taking delivery on a new truck in November and then we are expected to have two truck remounts in 2026.
We are looking at a 25-year loan option for the House 3 new build. The loan will not be closed until the old house is sold. With the age of the air conditioning units, we need to plan building improvements of maybe $20,000 annually
It is possible that the sales tax still has not bottomed out. It is going to be a challenging year to budget. There will be an additional meeting in October for budget planning probably a week prior to the regular meeting.
GENERAL BUSINESS
New Regulations
There are new regulations for ambulance districts. There is a requirement of three hours per term. Currently, all of our board members have completed the board member training. The requirement is at least 50% compliance. Our attorney will make a video to review topics for the board to view on an annual basis to maintain compliance. Kendall has completed the required CEU training several years ago to fill the requirements for administrator training.
The regulations also include ALS trucks. They are requiring that no more than 10% of runs can be formed out to other agencies in mutual aid. They are requiring a financial audit every three years. We have an audit annually and feel annually is still the best option.
Ste Genevieve County Memorial
Ste Genevieve Hospital has announced that they are closing labor and delivery on 1/1/2026 or even possibly before that. Home Health will be closing in less than 30 days. The closing of Home Health may give us an avenue with kicking off the community paramedicine program.
We will be monitoring call volume. We may be doing more move-ups. We have to be looking and planning for future. This may mean more 911 calls get transported out of the county. It is our goal to get patients to the right place the first time.
The regular meeting adjourned.
ADJOURNMENT:
Meeting ended: 6:16 p.m.
Made the motion: Nathan Wolk
Seconded the motion: Bill Everett
In favor: All Opposed: None
NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING:
The next regular meeting is Monday, October 20th at 5:15 p.m. at House 1.
Minutes submitted by Mary Grieshaber 9/16/20