The New Prague City Council moved forward with its ambulance service contract with North Memorial Ambulance. City Administrator Josh Tetzlaff said he would make the changes discussed at the Monday, April 6, meeting and then present the new contract to North Memorial.
At the city council’s March 16 meeting, the council discussed the contract, but was not ready to approve it then, said Tetzlaff, adding this was based on a potential lease agreement over ambulance space in the New Prague Public Safety Center, which the new police station is being added to. At the March 16 meeting, some of the councilors thought since a new facility was being added to the Public Safety Center, the city may want to consider increasing the rent to help pay for the new building, according to a memorandum from Tetzlaff.
This was counter to a request from North Memorial which was asking for use of the space without having to pay rent, to help offset losses North Memorial was showing in its quarterly reports to the city to operate the ambulance service, said the memorandum.
The council asked Tetzlaff to contact Faribault and Waseca, who also use North Memorial ambulance service and find out how those two cities provide space to North Memorial. Tetzlaff contacted Faribault, Waseca, plus Lonsdale and surrounding cities in Scott and Le Sueur counties to see how they handle ambulance service. Tetzlaff found in Faribault, North Memorial has a private lease for space and the city is not involved and in Waseca, North Memorial built its own facility in 1997. The cities of Lonsdale, Elko New Market, Belle Plaine and Le Sueur provide space free of charge for its ambulance services, according to the memorandum. Also, the cities of Montgomery and Le Center operate their own ambulance services and Prior Lake provides space for an ambulance for $1,787 a month in its fire station.
While providing space without rent would be a change for New Prague, said Tetzlaff, the city would be partnering with North Memorial to continue to provide exceptional response times to the New Prague area.
Tetzlaff spoke with North Memorial representatives who were open to paying a...
To see more on this story pick up the April 16, 2026 print edition of The New Prague Times.