By Eric Robinette
Dayton Daily News
OXFORD, Ohio — Oxford has turned down a request from College Corner to provide ambulance service to the Preble County portion of the village, leaving the village “deeply disappointed,” said its attorney.
College Corner, a village with a population of 407, according to the 2010 Census, straddles Preble and Butler counties. According to Oxford’s city manager, Doug Elliott, the Preble County portion of College Corner is served by the Village of Camden. Oxford already provides EMS service to the Butler County portion of College Corner, via a $60,000 fire/EMS contract with Oxford Twp.
College Corner wanted Oxford to help with the Preble portion to improve the response times, because Camden is further away, said F. Harrison Green, the village solicitor.
Oxford’s Fire/EMS statistics indicate that there were six calls from the Butler County portion of College Corner, and “I would expect this to double if the City of Oxford decided to provide service to the Preble County portion since more residents reside in that portion (216) than in the Butler County portion (191),” said Elliott.
Elliott drafted a tentative agreement for College Corner suggesting a payment to Oxford of $2,000. However, if Oxford were to send an ambulance to the Preble County portion, “That’s one less ambulance that can serve our citizens here, and I just feel strongly that we’re going to be stretching ourselves a little too thin,” the city manager said.
Councilman Richard Keebler said it was a difficult decision, but “it has to come down to business and the safety of our own residents at some point in time,” he said. Ultimately, he said, “I can see that there’s going to be a time that the townships, or the other areas we cover, are going to have to come up with enough money to pay a person, and $2,000 isn’t going to cover that.”
In a letter to Green sent earlier this month, Elliott wrote, “Although we understand College Corner’s desire to improve response times for this part of College Corner, we have decided we cannot offer this expanded service to College Corner … further expanding this service, even though it may be only five or so calls a year, might negatively impact the service provided by our part-time staff to the residents of the city of Oxford.”
That did not sit well with Green, who said, “We only had about 5 calls. We’re just stunned with that attitude.”
Green noted the village has received complaints about poor response time in the Preble County part of the village. He also noted that village leaders have offered to appear before Oxford to see if they can reach some kind of alternative.
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©2014 the Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio)