By Rick Clemenson
The Times Union (Albany, New York)
Copyright 2006 The Hearst Corporation
All Rights Reserved
RENSSELAER, New York — Mayor Dan Dwyer sought Tuesday to defuse a volatile situation a day after the Common Council voted to switch the mutual aid partner for the city’s volunteer ambulance service.
It is a decision that has even prompted questions from one county legislator about its legality.
“There’s been anger on both sides of this issue,” Dwyer said.
Mohawk Ambulance Service will replace Empire Ambulance as the backup for the Rensselaer Volunteer Ambulance Corps under the new plan.
Empire Ambulance has responded to emergency calls that couldn’t be handled by the city’s volunteer ambulance service — often during daytime hours — for nearly a decade, according to RVA secretary Eve Dihrberg.
Dwyer wouldn’t go into specifics about how he plans to settle the dispute, but said he was seeking a quick solution that would satisfy all parties involved.
“I have to get a settlement. The safety of the people is primary,” Dwyer said.
A day after the council convened for the unannounced special meeting, Dwyer’s office was inundated with calls from concerned people who he said were evenly divided on the issue.
Dihrberg and Rensselaer County Legislator Mike Stammel, an RVA member for 15 years and a volunteer firefighter in the city for more than 30 years, questioned the motives — and legality — of Monday’s vote.
“What they did was illegal with how it’s supposed to be presented, and it wasn’t passed with a majority of members,” Stammel said. “They should know how to present proper legislation.”
Stammel said the Common Council is circumventing an agreement it made with the RVA when the city’s budget was passed on Aug. 1. Stammel believes some council members may have been swayed by Mohawk’s assurances of a no-cost service.
He said that Empire Ambulance attempted a no-cost service several years ago, but that venture failed after a year. The city has helped pay for the Empire service out of the RVA budget for the last several years.
Mohawk spokeswoman Jacqueline Geraci pointed to the success of Mohawk’s current no-cost service agreement with the town of Brunswick, which has existed since 2001. There, Mohawk bills patients’ insurance companies, rather than the city.
“What we offer the city is what we are going to hold to. We want to provide the citizens of Rensselaer with the best service possible,” Geraci said. “This is not a turf war. We want to work with them (RVA) as a team.”
Stammel said RVA members understand the city’s financial cri sis and were willing to accept a budget decrease of $48,000 to $25,000 this year. Even though the budget was passed Aug. 1, the RVA has worked without a contract since that date and the funds withheld, Stammel said.
“They are pushing the city’s volunteer fire and ambulance into a corner,” Stammel said. “It’s hard enough to handle medical emergencies, but we are dealing with a financial emergency every day.”
Even though money is diminishing, Dihrberg affirmed that the volunteer ambulance service will continue to serve the community and work with Empire, whose contract is renewed annually.
Volunteers plan on holding an emergency meeting later this week.
Stammel said of the Common Council’s decision: “They have gone from a democracy to a dictatorship.”