Village of Theresa Also to Contract Ambulance Services with Mayville EMS

Following the Village of Lomira’s decision to contract ambulance services with Mayville EMS, the Theresa Village Board contemplated contracting outside the village for ambulance services at its meeting on Monday, November 17.

Theresa Ambulance Services currently provides EMS services to the Village of Theresa and is jointly funded by the Village and the Town of Theresa. Recently, staffing struggles have severely limited the ambulance’s ability to respond to calls, which was the main reason Lomira decided to contract with Mayville EMS instead of renewing its contract with Theresa.

Roughly half of the Theresa Ambulance Services’ calls came from the Village of Lomira. At the last Theresa Special Board meeting on November 3, concern about the service’s ability to be financially sustainable on a lower call volume arose.

The agenda for the November 20 Ambulance Committee includes discussing a “decommissioning plan.”

“Now, what about the ambulance that we bought?” inquired Trustee Sandy Koenigs.

“That will be part of the Ambulance Committee’s dissolving program,” responded Police Chief Dan Markus. “According to our consultant, the price should be the Ambulance Committee’s decision and the Township’s and the Village’s . . . The brand new purchase value plus the value of trade-in, plus $10,000 to $20,000 on top of that is what you should be asking for.”

It takes approximately two years to acquire a brand-new ambulance if a municipality places an order. Theresa recently received its new ambulance. The ambulance does not have all of the equipment installed or branding applied yet, and will not if the service dissolves.

“What happens if Mayville doesn’t have an ambulance ready if we need somebody? Are they going to have enough people?” asked Trustee Koenigs.

“My understanding from talking with them is with the money they are going to receive if everybody signs on, . . . they’re going to hire more full-time staff. So, they’ll have multiple rigs up,” answered Chief Markus.

“They have four now,” added Trustee Shawn Krapfl.

Trustee Joe Haak made the motion to contract ambulance services with Mayville EMS for five years, which passed unanimously.

Board Matters:
• The board considered amending the zoning map to include an annexed section of a village property. Part of the property was previously in the Town of Theresa but was recently annexed into the village so that the entire property could be sold. The Plan Commission approved changing the land’s zoning from Town of Theresa Ag to Village of Theresa R-1 Single-Family Residential at its meeting on November 10. A motion to amend the zoning map was made by Trustee Dave Brandenburg and passed unanimously.
• The board discussed amending the 2026 Joint Library Agreement with the Town of Theresa, which was passed at the last village board meeting. Part of the new agreement designates Village of Theresa Clerk-Treasurer Becky Tellier as the library’s fiscal agent and administrative costs of $10,000 split evenly between the two municipalities. According to Village President Jody Steger, the Town of Theresa does not approve of the $5,000 expense and had only budgeted $2,000. President Steger also said the Town of Theresa clerk may be willing to be the fiscal agent. Trustee Brandenburg made a motion to request a counteroffer from the Town of Theresa with a due date of December 8 to receive the counteroffer. The motion passed unanimously.

• The board considered allowing the village hall to be open on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day and December 26, 2025, to create a long holiday weekend for staff. The motion to approve the change in holiday hours was made by Trustee Haak and passed unanimously.