Wilkes County Commissioners release statement on rescue squad contract termination
The Wilkes County Board of Commissioners would like to respond on the Wilkes Rescue Squad and the action taken in their meeting on May 6, 2025. First they want to thank the Rescue Squad for the service they have provided since 1955. They would like to thank ALL of the 25 Volunteer and 2 Town Fire Departments for all that they do for the citizens of the Great State of Wilkes as well. Without all these men and women, along with our Wilkes EMS, we could not provide the excellent medical care and rescue response that our citizens deserve and depend on.
The Rescue Squad was in breach of their contract with Wilkes County for over 7 months. In the fall of 2024, the Wilkes County Medical Director, Dr. Lance Henninger rescinded Wilkes Rescue Squad's authorization to function as an Advanced Life Support (ALS) organization in Wilkes County. This means they cannot function at the advanced level required to be the back-up for Wilkes EMS. This action was the sole decision of the Medical Director, whose license they operate under. Wilkes County had no say in this; it is expressly the Medical Director's decision to make based on his opinion of the ability of Wilkes Rescue Squad to competently, safely, and effectively provide this service due to the lack of ALS qualified members responding for the Squad. As a result, the Squad can no longer provide the back-up service they are contractually obligated to provide, which places them in breach of their contract with the County. Without this license, they CANNOT function at the advanced level required in the contract. Due to this breach, County Attorney Tony Triplett was instructed to contact Wilkes Rescue, advising them that they have thirty (30) days to cure the breach or the contract would be terminated. A thirty (30) day notice was required under the terms of that contract. Mr. Triplett issued this notice to the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Captain of Wilkes Rescue Squad on March 26, 2025. County Officials are grateful for the service the Squad has provided and we had hoped to be able to resolve this breach in a way that would best benefit the Citizens of Wilkes County. According to Dr. Henninger, they could not cure the breach at this time. We as the Board of Commissioners could not continue under the current contract.
Wilkes County EMS has been operating as its own back-up for over 7 months, since the fall of 2024, and have covered all standbys without the Squad; no citizen's call was unanswered. Every call received will continue to receive the highest level of ALS care as they always have from Wilkes County.
Wilkes County is the primary funding source for Wilkes Rescue Squad, providing more than 48% of their annual revenue from tax payer funds. The amount appropriated to the Rescue Squad in the 24-25 budget is $210,120.00. One of the main reasons we funded Wilkes Rescue at this level is their contract called for them to provide back-up service for Wilkes EMS. With this being said, Wilkes County Government cannot continue funding the Rescue Squad at the same level while receiving less services. The Rescue Squad is not a County department. They are a non-profit just like many other non-profits across Wilkes. We are not 'doing away' with them. This is simply a termination of a contract that they can no longer fulfill their obligations under. Regardless of the status of the Wilkes Rescue Squad, Wilkes County will continue to ensure all levels of emergency services are provided to the citizens.
Let us provide you with the background on this. On August 7, 2023, County Officials entered into discussions with officials from the Wilkes Rescue Squad to attempt to reach an agreement on a new contract to replace the contract that was in force at the time. Their most recent contract was entered into on September 20, 2011 and needed to be updated. After the contract with the County was signed, on September 26, 2011, Wilkes Rescue Squad filed a restatement of their Articles of Incorporation with the North Carolina Secretary of State. This was done without the knowledge of the County within 6 days of when the contract was signed. It later came to the attention of the County Commissioners that a dissolution clause was added to the Squad's Articles of Incorporation on 09/26/2011 that stated: in the event the Corporation should cease to be solvent or otherwise decided to disband or go out of service, all their assets could be dispersed to any 501(c)3 organization performing similar services. This new clause in their Articles of Incorporation is in direct conflict with the contract we were prepared to offer Wilkes Rescue. The proposed contract was consistent with the contracts that the County has with all of the Volunteer Fire Departments in Wilkes County, which requires that all assets will be returned to the County for distribution to other departments that may need the equipment in the event of dissolution. It is the
opinion of the County that all assets, equipment, and/or property that was paid for by Wilkes County tax payers should absolutely be returned to be used for the benefit of the Citizens in our County in the event of dissolution. Wilkes Rescue's resistance to remove this clause from their Articles of Incorporation has been another major obstacle in negotiations for a new contract.
When the Squad Chief told his members 'we will no longer be responding to calls after midnight tonight. We will be cancelling all meetings/training sessions until after the May 6th meeting. Again, we will not be dispatched after midnight tonight and none of our equipment is to respond for any reason…' the Board of Commissioners, in conjunction with the EMS and County staff, worked swiftly to ensure that rescue services of all levels remain in place for our citizens. We verbally entered into agreements with four rescue response Fire Departments to ensure the entire county was covered, these are Millers Creek, Mulberry-Fairplains, Ronda, and Broadway. We also currently have five other Fire Departments that are certified rescue and are prepared and will also respond as needed. These Fire Departments are funded with your fire tax dollars; if we entered in to a rescue only contract with the Rescue Squad, our citizens would continue to have to pay for duplication of these rescue services.
Wilkes County Commissioners will continue to prioritize the safety, health, and wellbeing of our Citizens moving forward.
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