BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Darn Tootin Rootin Tootin

WINDHAM - If the Greene County Legislature is smart, and nobody here is saying they ain’t, they will get a good hold on what could be a bucking bronco of a ride, changing the way ambulance service is done

Lawmakers, last week, agreed to hire an outside consultant to come in and write a nuts-and-bolts report on the condition of ambulance service within the county, very possibly leading to some serious wrangling.

There is a separate piece on the details of their decision in our “Legislature Stuff” column, this week, some of which needs repeating before we get to the rootin tootin’ part of the story.

Back in September, a group from the Mountaintop Supervisors and Mayors Association strode into the legislative chambers, stopping just short of demanding lawmakers do something to fix what is breaking.

Outlining several unhealthy spots in the current system, hilltown leaders implored the county to financially support the establishment of an independent Task Force.

The task of the Task Force would be to “potentially come to a determination for what the future of a more effective EMS system in Greene County could look like,” the hilltown leaders said.

Lassoing the consultant was the first move. Now a Steering Committee will be formed, probably composed of a couple of legislators, a couple of mountaintop supervisors and some emergency services personnel.

It is expected there will be a recommendation about some kind of a countywide system on the table by late next spring.

What happens at that point could be wilder than jumping off a rodeo horse and trying to rassle a steer to the ground (which I’m not a fan of, considering the fact the steer has no choice in the matter).

No disrespect to cowboys and cowgirls either but you get the literary metaphor. The reality is, this is not the first time this idea has been broached (which is explained in the companion piece).

On that first go around, a different Task Force got all the numbers down on paper and proposed a countywide system, delivering paramedics to the scene of ambulance calls and providing hospital transport.

It was a solid plan but it crashed and burned when two key municipal players, the towns of Ashland and Catskill, spurned it.

They had their reasons but those reasons won’t cut it anymore because the system is in its dinosaur stage, not in terms of professionalism, which is crackerjack, but in terms of deeply entrenched turf wars.

“This is going to come down to a territorial thing,” says legislature chairman Patrick Linger. “It happened before and I could see it happening again.

“I’m not looking into a crystal ball, as cloudy as the crystal ball is, and saying it will definitely happen, and I’m hoping it doesn’t happen.

“But a countywide system was a good idea back then and it’s a good idea now, not because the county wants to tell towns and villages what to do, but because this is the most efficient, cost effective way to go.

“The bottom line is we need to provide a consistent service to all the people in the county. The legislature has to buckle down and do the job of getting the best service at the best value,” Linger says.

In reality, the county already pays $2.1 million a year to finance the Greene County Emergency Medical Services flycars that are stationed 24/7 throughout the county, delivering paramedics to the scene.

Flycars, however, do not provide hospital transport and there is a hodge-podge of systems in place, providing quality service and mutual aid although operating as if in little separate worlds.

A prime example of that existed in the town of Windham, not that long ago, when territorial in-fighting between the community’s two fire departments resulted in an outside consultant being summoned.

The consultant pulled no punches, identifying dysfunction within the fire district overseeing both departments, negatively impacting taxpayers.

Change has come, especially at the top of each department, and the Old Guard is honored for what it accomplished but a refreshing Young Blood era of cooperation is emerging.

“I could easily see the conversation we are having about ambulance serving moving to our volunteer fire service,” Linger says.

“There are 27 fire districts in the county that in some cases, maybe many cases, are spending a lot more money than they need to because of a ‘what’s mine is mine’ way of thinking.

“We have to get away from that thinking for the good of the county overall,” Linger says. “That’s why I like the fact that we have brought in someone from outside New York State as the consultant.”

An outsider has nothing to gain or lose by what they ultimately come up with, not getting dragged into the politics and personalities of the issue.

It will take a few months for the consultant to do their work and the Steering Committee has to do its work, whatever that work turns out to be, reporting back to the legislature, and then the darn tootin’ rootin’ tootin’ begins.

Based on the findings of the consultant, will the legislature make a decision on its own or leave it to towns and villages as occurred the last time?

If the Greene County Legislature is smart, and nobody here is saying they ain’t, they will make dad-blamed sure they spread the word on this ambulance varmint.

And not just in a newspaper story or a posting on the county website but by personally moseying into town and village and school board meetings in their districts so we mules of taxation find out what’s good for us.