BETTER THAN HEARSAY - The Beginning or the End or What

CAIRO - A dull thud was heard during a recent Greene County Legislature meeting on the possible creation of a countywide ambulance system.

Lawmakers got together last Wednesday night, joined by town government officials and emergency medical services professionals for the latest in a series of monthly sitdowns dating back to the autumn of 2024.

The latest session is covered in more detail in our Legislature Stuff column, this week, as the first real numbers for how much a unified system would cost were unveiled by county administrator Shaun Groden.

Similar gatherings are slated for May and June, with legislature chairman Patrick Linger saying he hopes a decision to move forward will then be made, setting the stage to be operational in 2026.

There is no guarantee, however, the legislature will vote “yes.” Some internal doubts are being offered about committing to uncertainties surrounding longterm cost and whether the system will succeed.

At the same time, lawmakers undertook this effort in response to a warning from mountaintop town supervisors, eighteen months ago, that municipal units are not quite ready for Hospice care but neither will they survive.

Lawmakers, based on that assessment, brought in an outside consultant to conduct an objective study on the situation, resulting in four options.

One of those options was switching to a countywide system, and the series of talks have focused on that concept, seemingly headed in that direction.

Windham town supervisor Thomas Hoyt, last week, said, “we’re in,” while Hunter town supervisor Sean Mahoney said, “the consensus on the mountaintop is, ‘we are in.’ The benefits outweigh the risks.”

That might have been a good moment for others to similarly chime in, making it one big happy family, boldly sallying forth.

No one did. Instead, other alternatives were suggested by two lawmakers that stopped well short of welcoming a unified county system.

One suggestion was for the mountaintop towns to basically go off on their own in a sort of experimental venture, seeing how it works and perhaps gradually evolving to a county system, or not.

Another thought was sticking with the status quo and having the county channel funds to the various towns having difficulties paying the piper.

Neither was embraced by Linger, not wanting to go piecemeal and not wanting to keep applying band-aid solutions that are non-solutions.

Linger has regularly reminded attendees that these talks are a deja’ vu, reaching this same place a decade ago with a special Task Force.

The recommendation then was to likewise institute a county system. That decision was left up to the individual towns and it died a painful death.

“We’ve been here before,” Linger says. “The problems have not gone away, and will not go away. I don[t want to see the day when this system fails.”

The drab thump was heard in the form of an email from town of Greenville Rescue Squad Inc. and Matthew Marlow, the chief of operations for the non-profit entity overseeing the unit.

That email, with the heading “standby policy,” was sent to Greene County Emergency Services director John Farrell, deputy director Dan King, 911 Communications director James DiPerna and others.

“Effective immediately, the Greenville Rescue Squad will no longer be available to provide standby coverage outside the town of Greenville,” Marlow stated.

“This includes requests to stage in Earlton, Coxsackie, New Baltimore or the 9W Corridor. Any requests for standby coverage will be fulfilled by moving to locations within the town of Greenville,” Marlow stated.

“If there is an active call requiring mutual aid response and we are available, we will of course respond,” Marlow stated.

“Our primary responsibility remains to our jurisdiction, and we will not be placed on standby outside Greenville,” Marlow stated.

“Please ensure that the dispatchers are informed of this policy update so as to avoid unnecessary confusion or confrontation,” Marlow stated.

Greenville town supervisor John Bensen has been a consistent presence at the ambulance meetings, voicing strong support for the countywide system.

When the county hired the consultant for the study, over a year ago, vital information was requested from every town related to their costs for staffing, equipment, etc. connected to ambulance service.

Greenville - that is to say the non-profit entity contracted to run the service - declined to provide that information, as did the nearby town of Durham whose ambulance is also handled by a non-profit entity.

Supervisors from the towns of Durham and Cairo have not been a visible presence at the county ambulance conversations.

Meanwhile, communications have reportedly completely broken down between Greenville town officials and the Greenville Rescue Squad.

Marlow’s email, distributed at last week’s ambulance talks, is seen by some as purposefully contrarian to the countywide concept, especially given his use of the words “our jurisdiction” and “avoid…confrontation.”

Whether adversarial or not, “the town of Greenville has said very frankly they want to be part of this countywide system,” Linger says.

“So I would have to say yes, that conflicts potentially with what the chief of operations is saying,” Linger says. “If we are going to do this, we need to have everybody on the same page.”

And if they are not? Potential in-house votes are already being counted by lawmakers, anticipating a decision being made amid contention.

In a followup Facebook posting, Marlow was critical of the countywide talks, terming them, “predetermined,” fundamentally flawed” and “fiscally irresponsible,” claims to which Linger had a simple “no comment.”

Groden, said Marlow, “is apparently saying what the [ambulance] system needs is better pay and worker recruitment. I believe that is exactly the basis of all our presentations, along with improved benefits.” 

Mountaintop town supervisors are less reserved, responding en masse to the Facebook posting by Marlow, saying, “the narrative he presents is misleading and omits critical context.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Marlow’s online posting and the response from hilltown leaders (sent to Groden) are published in full in this week’s edition).