2 sworn into council seats

The Whitehall Town Council welcomed two new members Monday night.

Katy James was sworn in as the new council member for Ward 2. She replaces Barb Gagnon who resigned from her position. Roy McBride is the new council member in Ward 3. He will replace Montina Rawson who moved out of town limits. Their terms will expire at the end of 2019.

The possibility of the Town of Whitehall joining the Jefferson Valley Rural Ambulance District was also discussed at the meeting.

District Board Chair Sue Pullman approached the council and said their district currently covers the Whitehall and Cardwell School districts with the exception of town limits.

She said the current predicament is the town is not in district and since the district is a county entity, they cannot subsidize the town. Pullman said the town cannot get the ambulance service for free when other residents are paying for it. She used having an ambulance at football games, wrestling matches, and rodeos as an example. In last week's Ledger, Pullman said the Town of Whitehall could also be charged when the ambulance assists fire calls in town limits.

Pullman added one way to fix this would be for the town to join the district. Pullman told the governing body she has been in touch with Jefferson County Election Administrator Bonnie Ramey and a resolution that would allow the measure to go to vote would have to be submitted by September 3.

Mayor Mary Janacaro Hensleigh said the issue has to be citizen driven and told town residents to contact their council members if they are interested in joining, adding so far nobody on the governing body has approached her about putting it on an agenda.

Resident Maxine Samuelson addressed the possibility of hosting a public meeting on the topic because of many questions about the joining the district.