Vicky Klukkert
The Daily Star
DELAWARE COUNTY, N.Y. — After a heated debate between town supervisors, the Delaware County Board of Supervisors approved contracting a backup ambulance service out to American Medical Response for two years during its April 27 meeting.
The resolution was tabled during the board’s April 13 meeting by a weighted vote of 3,144 yes to 1,280 no. After the meeting, Hancock Town Supervisor Jerry Vernold said he wanted to table the resolution because several town supervisors thought more research needed to be done before hiring AMR to be the backup ambulance service to the various volunteer and paid services throughout the county.
At the beginning of the April 27 meeting, Vernold introduced Richard Strasser of the Franklin-Treadwell Fire District, Ray Baker of the Sidney Emergency Medical Services, Jim Rotzler of the Town of Hancock Ambulance and attorney Terry Hannigan, who helped Hancock set up its service and is helping the committee establishing the Headwaters Emergency Medical Services in Stamford, to speak about a countywide ambulance service and certificate of need.
Baker outlined two options to expand the Sidney EMS, which is a nonprofit, countywide. The first option would supply the county with two basic life support ambulances and one advanced life support fly car at a cost of $1,037,230 per year. The second option would supply three ambulances and no-fly car at a cost of $1.419 million per year.
The contract with AMR, which is a for-profit company, is $1.9 million per year. County supervisors approved using $1.5 million of the American Rescue Plan Act money to help pay for a backup ambulance service during its March 9 meeting.
Hannigan answered several questions from town supervisors, such as how quickly a certificate of need from the state Department of Health can be obtained, what is required of the county if it obtains a CON, and whether the county would need additional liability insurance. Hannigan said that municipal CONs are usually approved quickly by the state, that the county could start its own ambulance service or contract out to a provider and that the county’s insurance provider would know more about adding liability insurance.
Hannigan said the 2022-23 state budget allows volunteer fire departments to bill for their ambulance services, however, he said it wouldn’t be cost-effective for ambulance services that have a small call volume to bill for their services.
The resolution to contract out to AMR for backup ambulance service was brought back up for discussion and a vote at the end of the April 27 meeting by Andes Town Supervisor and Public Safety Committee Chair Wayland “Bud” Gladstone. He said the committee has discussed EMS service with Emergency Services Director Steve Hood and EMS Coordinator Maggie Wilson for about two years. He said the committee chose the contract with AMR over the Sidney and Hancock proposal because it will allow the county to come up with a plan.
“I appreciate all the information we’ve gained the past few months, but an RFP was sent out months ago and AMR gave us a plan,” Colchester Town Supervisor Art Merrill said. “We need to move forward. We can come up with a long-range plan during this time.”
Vernold and Middletown Town Supervisor Carl Patrick Davis voiced concerns about their residents being double taxed, as their towns already have paid ambulance service.
Davis said his town pays the largest amount of taxes to the county and asked why his town residents should support towns that haven’t started their own paid ambulance service.
“We have a police force in Colchester and we still pay the county to have a county sheriff’s department,” Merrill said.
Sidney Town Supervisor Eric Wilson said he wasn’t in favor of the resolution because it was benefitting a for-profit company, and he would like to see the money go to a nonprofit company. Davenport Town Supervisor Dennis Valente agreed.
Supervisors Gladstone, Merrill, Bovina Town Supervisor Tina Molé, Delhi Town Supervisor Mark Tuthill, Deposit Town Supervisor Thomas Axtell, Hamden Town Supervisor Wayne Marshfield, Harpersfield Town Supervisor James Eisel, Kortright Town Supervisor George Haynes, Masonville Town Supervisor Betty Scott, Roxbury Town Supervisor Allen Hinkley, Stamford Town Supervisor John Kosier, Tompkins Town Supervisor William Layton and Walton Town Supervisor Joe Cetta voted in favor of the resolution.
While Vernold, Wilson, Valente, Davis and Franklin Town Supervisor Jeff Taggart voted against the resolution. Meredith Town Supervisor James Ellis was absent. The weighted vote was 2,834 yes, 1,812 no. If either Tuthill or Cetta had voted no, the resolution would not have passed. Both voted to table the resolution two weeks ago.
Cetta said he was voting for the resolution to help the smaller towns in the county get the backup ambulance coverage they need. Scott said she voted for the same reason. Masonville is covered by the Sidney EMS.
Also during the meeting, the board unanimously approved the following:
- Allocating more than $1 million in ARPA funds for four different projects. The Friends of Bramley Mountain Fire Tower and the town of Tompkins Fire Tower each received $25,000, DTC Cable, Inc. received $980,4000 to expand broadband internet services to more than 200 homes, and $50,000 was given to the Delaware County Transportation Initiative Study to hire a consulting firm to devise a plan to deal with the county’s public transportation challenge.
- Setting a public hearing from May 11 at 1 p.m. to discuss the Community Development Block Grant Cares program. According to the resolution, the county is considering the development of a small business assistance program to provide financial support in the form of matching grants to local businesses to help them in responding to the Coronavirus pandemic.
- Lowering the gas sales tax to be collected only on the first $2 per gallon price. This will begin on June 1.
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