The La Crosse Common Council tonight reversed a decision from earlier this week to hold an advisory referendum on a city-run ambulance service.

The council’s Committee of the Whole had voted Tuesday in favor of an advisory referendum coupled with a self-imposed ban on such a service.
While the council upheld 12-3 a two-year moratorium on a municipal ambulance service, the pro-referendum faction lost out on an April ballot item by one vote.

Council member Tom Sweeney argued the advisory referendum would be futile — since the council already voted against the service, ambulance proponents would have no reason to fight for the vote in the spring.

Council member Doug Farmer, who crafted Tuesday’s vote, actually rallied against the referendum tonight. The ambulance issue, he said, didn’t rise to the level of a public referendum.

"If you were to make a list of the 10 biggest issues of the city of La Crosse, this wouldn’t be there," he said.

Advertisement