At the beginning of their ongoing dispute with Show Low EMS, Timber Mesa Fire and Medical District (TMFMD) was doing business as Lakeside Fire District with a state-issued Certificate of Necessity (CON). That’s what the Arizona Department of Health Services (AHDS) calls the permit that it requires a company to have in order to operate that kind of service. The typical CON specifies a particular geographic service area. The permit was set to expire in November, 2018.
Timber Mesa not only wanted to continue doing business, but also wanted to expand its service area. Problem was, the area it wanted to expand into overlapped the area that was being served by Show Low EMS, the name that Arrowhead Mobile Healthcare, Inc. does business as (In spring 2018, the private company changed their name to Arrowhead Fire and Medical Authority).