LEGISLATURE STUFF - In Synch

CAIRO - The mood has changed from uncertainty and rising confusion to enthusiasm and cooperation at every level in the continuing discussions about creating a countywide ambulance system.

Greece County Legislature members hosted the latest talks, last week, at the county Emergency Services Center in Cairo.

They were joined by town government leaders and emergency medical services professionals, all of whom have been directly involved in the conversations since they began, last fall.

County lawmakers organized the sessions after hearing collectively from mountaintop town supervisors that their current municipal units were functioning well, short term, but fiscally unsustainable, long term.

Hilltown leaders sought answers on a new direction, prompting lawmakers, in the winter of 2023, to hire an independent consultant to perform an extensive study of county services.

Four options for improvement were offered including the formation of a countywide network, ultimately eliminating municipal squads.

It was widely agreed change was inevitable, but over the past two months sharp lines were starting to be drawn between the various stakeholders about how that shift should occur, threatening to derail the effort.

However, after receiving a purposeful nudge to fish or cut bait from county administrator Shaun Groden, town leaders gathered on June 5 for an unprecedented spitballing, coming away with a solid game plan.

They presented their proposal, last Wednesday night, fully committing to the countywide concept for the first time and offering their own list of recommendations for moving forward.

Those suggestions were debated in depth and, as it turned out, largely in accord with an operational blueprint submitted the same evening by the county sheriff’s office which has also been closely tied to the talks.

EMS personnel have likewise toned in, producing a document not very different from what town officials and the sheriff’s department wrote.

Nothing is finalized at this stage but, “I am more confident now than I was [the past two months] that this is the way we are going to head,” county legislature chairman Patrick Linger said.

Linger has chaired the sessions with Groden, not hiding his viewpoint that a county system was not only wise but unavoidable, sooner rather than later.

Lawmakers will eventually be put to the test in terms of approving - or not - the funding required for the switch that will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $15 million, all tolled.

While that is roughly twice what is paid now, the increase is necessary to ensure system stability by giving workers fairer pay/benefits and career opportunities, removing purchasing redundancies, and providing top-drawer service everywhere in the county.

It will take perhaps a year longer than was envisioned by some lawmakers at the outset of the talks, tentatively becoming operational in 2027.

Town leaders have consistently balked at a 2026 switchover, saying it was too swift. Linger embraced the slower pace.

“I’m fine with waiting until 2027,” Linger said, “We just want to make sure all these agencies are kept up and running between then and now.”

There is no indication any unit will soon fail, although that is not a certainty in the not-distant future. In the meantime, two significant steps will be initiated to commence the transition.

It was agreed a new EMS Coordinator position will be created to piece together the operational specifics of the system.

That person could reportedly be part of a union process or a legislative appointment, depending upon job description and other factors.

It is possible that individual could subsequently head the new county agency which is expected to have an estimated 120 employees.

There will also be movement toward the county securing its own Certificate of Need, a State requirement for any entity to supply ambulance service.

That bureaucratic move shouldn’t present any complications and will allow the county to gradually coalesce the new system while preparing the various budgetary additions.

And, in the game plan presented by town leaders, it was recommended the existing Greene County EMS flycar system be absorbed by the county, serving as an in-the-trenches model for the rest of the system.

The flycars provide paramedics in every rig but not patient transport to a hospital, a vital element in why a county system is on the table.

Flycar response is swift and highly professional across the county. Transport can result in mutual aid and personnel complexities.

Many intricacies must be untangled before the county system becomes a reality but that now is a driving force, no longer a deterrent.

“We’re essentially creating the top tier of a totally new ambulance structure, building from the top down,” Hunter town supervisor Sean Mahoney said.

“Even some of the naysayers are beginning to understand this is not a personal attack against any organization,” Linger said. “We only want everyone to have access to good emergency medical services.”

Lawmakers, in another bold step, recently passed a resolution declaring ambulance response an essential service, similar to firefighting and the sheriff’s department.

“We are doing what the State isn’t doing but, in our view, should be doing,” Linger said, setting the groundwork for simpler EMS implementation and funding. The next session is slated for July 9.