A crowd of at least 50 residents and property owners of east Custer County gathered in the Wetmore Community Center the evening of May 20 for a Town Hall meeting called by the West Custer County Hospital District (WCCHD). The topic in its narrowest sense was the Hospital Districtâs upcoming public hearing, at their May 28 meeting, to consider a resolution to set a ballot measure for the November 3, 2026 election to include all of east Custer County, except for a small region covered by the Rye Fire Protection District. If the resolution were to be adopted, and the measure were to pass, property owners in east Custer County would be agreeing to pay the same 7.908 mill levy that West Custer County pays to support the Hospital District, covering operations for the medical clinic and Custer County EMS.
This, in turn, would mean an increase in operating revenueâapproximately $46,000, according to figures put forward at the meetingâfor the District, to help cover the costs of EMS to the area.
Spokespeople for the WCCHD, including Board member Shanna McKellip, Board President Ron Terry, and EMS Manager Justine Banning, were on hand to make the argument that such a mill levy would âlevel the playing fieldâ between east and west Custer when it comes to providing services.
Terry took the lead on that argument, giving some of the history of the District, including the two separate mill levies establishing funding for the clinic and EMS; and the fact the eastern part of the county had been covered by volunteer EMS from Florence. However, in 2019, the word came that Florence was no longer going to cover the area; the extra coverage was proving to be too much wear and tear on their volunteer force. However, even after a mill levy was passed to raise money for paid fire and EMS staff, Florence still refuses to cover the area, despite numerous attempts to secure an agreement: attempts that have involved county commissioners, members of the WCCHD Board, and citizen groups from the Wetmore area.
This leaves east Custer County in something of an EMS coverage desert, and Custer County EMS squarely on the horns of a dilemma: either cover east Custer County, as they have been since 2019, despite receiving no funding from the areaâs residents; or, in the absence of such funding, stick to the boundaries of the WCCHDâs service area (which ends around McKenzie Junction) leaving the areaâs residents â and others, such as traffic accident victims in Hardscrabble Canyon â to fend for themselves.
From the point of view of the WCCHD, asking for east Custer to shoulder some of the cost for being the primary emergency call makes sense: after all, as Bannon pointed out, Custer County EMS regularly gets called down to the area; in 2025, there were 35 calls to points in east Custer County, including both accidents and residence calls.
For the most part, however, the residents at the meeting signaled their opposition to the idea of paying the mill levy, repeatedly asking Terry âwhat they would get from the WCCHD for their money.â When Terry responded that they would get access to the clinic and guaranteed EMS coverage, several people raised the objection that they did not use the clinic, or had been unsuccessful in attempts to get an appointment. As for the guarantee of EMS coverage, the principal objection voiced was that ambulance crews took too long to get to Wetmore from Westcliffe. When Terry asked what the alternatives would be, former County Commissioner Kevin Day, was one of those who claimed that he would be able to depend on a neighbor to drive him to a hospital in the event of a heart attack. (Day declined to elaborate on whether or not the neighbor would be providing CPR as they drove.)
Others advanced such possibilities as: continuing to negotiate with Florence, or contracting with AMR, a commercial ambulance service that covers Cañon City and Pueblo; or putting a surcharge on Custer County EMS runs to Wetmore calls; or even having a dedicated EMS in Wetmore itself. Carol Vayhinger, a resident who has been heavily involved with citizen efforts to deal with the question of EMS coverage for the area, explained that some of these ideas had already been explored: âWe had AMR come down and talk to us about a contract to cover Wetmore,â she said: âonce they went back and ran the numbers, we never heard from them again.â Similarly, she said, even a mill levy would not cover the cost of installing a dedicated EMS in Wetmore: âBased on the numbers, we would only be raising about $46,000 per year, which isnât enough to pay for it.â
Some attendees asked what would happen if the inclusion effort went to a ballot and got voted down. âWe have no duty to act outside of district boundaries,â Terry stated: âWe are going to stop providing service past McKenzie Junction.â However, as he and Bannon both attested, this would be an unpalatable decision, as well as possibly open to legal challenge, based on the original terms of the agreement by which the county, back in 1988, ceded ambulance service to the Hospital District.
âWe appreciate that this is hard for you,â one resident told Terry as he thanked the attendees for coming: âbut there donât seem to be any easy answers.â
The WCCHD will have a public hearing on the inclusion resolution at its May 28 meeting.
â Elliott Jackson
