LEGISLATURE STUFF - On the Road Again

CATSKILL - Wasting no precious time, the Greene County Legislature has tentatively approved the hiring of an outside consultant to perform a study on the well being - or not - of countywide emergency services.

Lawmakers unanimously agreed to hire the firm of Fitch & Associates during a Health Services committee meeting, last week.

While the resolution still needs to be passed by the entire board, that is expected at their regular monthly session on December 20.

The hiring follows a visit from members of the Mountaintop Supervisors and Mayors Association, this past September, urging the legislature to help address what they termed “a crisis in ambulance services.”

Hunter town supervisor Sean Mahoney, serving as spokesperson for the group, said, “we feel it would be in the interest of not only the mountaintop towns but the entirety of Greene County that an independent committee or Task Force is formed,” to fully examine the matter.

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

It is generally agreed that the current, somewhat scattered providing of ambulance service by towns and the county is dying on the vine.

While ambulance service is exemplary overall, manpower shortages are being experienced throughout the industry and costs are rising off the charts, putting a strain on local budgets.

Mountaintop towns and villages are presently moving toward establishing a groundbreaking ambulance district encompassing the six towns of Hunter, Ashland, Prattsville, Lexington, Windham and Jewett.

It would function similarly to volunteer firefighting districts, spreading the expense between the municipalities for both advanced life support (paramedics on board) and basic life support (patient transport).

The fledgling effort, led by Ashland town supervisor Richard Tompkins, is being eyeballed by the State Department of Health, perhaps becoming a reality early next year.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, have financially and wholeheartedly embraced the idea posed by hilltown leaders for a “comprehensive system review of the emergency medical system [and transportation program.]

“The future of the EMS system as it currently stands [across the county] is in jeopardy of collapsing due to rising costs and staffing issues,” the legislative resolution states.

“Several town supervisors have reached out to the county and voiced their concerns. Greene County received and reviewed two proposals to provide consultation services for the purpose of conducting a comprehensive system review,” the resolution states.

“After [online] interviews were held, [the legislature] has chosen the firm of Fitch & Associates, LLC, as having the necessary experience and essential requirements needed for this comprehensive system review specifically for Greene County.”

The resolution authorizes executing a contract with Fitch & Associates for $49,000 plus approved out-of-pocket expenses not to exceed $100,000, also setting up Capital Project #146 for administration.

Legislature chairman Patrick Linger, in a followup phone interview, said the process could begin shortly after the New Year, taking several months to produce a final analysis and report.

One of the first local steps will be the formation of a steering committee to consolidate all the pertinent information gathered from the consultant and all towns and villages, leading to some type of recommendation.

“We’ve been down this road before and came away without a solution to the problem” Linger said, referencing the work of a special Task Force established a decade ago for the same purpose.

A countywide response and transport system was proposed at that time but did not get enough support from key municipalities to move forward.

“It failed back then. We don’t want to put that effort in now and have it fail again. We need to come up with something actionable to improve the system we already have in place,” Linger said.

“I believe that can be done with this consultant. Part of the reason they were chosen is because they are not based in New York State.

“They will be able to look at our situation with very different eyes and present ideas that we maybe haven’t considered in New York.”

It is expected the startup meetings with the consultant will be conducted via computer Zoom, likely also including at least one visit to the area from their home office in Platte City, Missouri, or their Atlanta, Georgia, branch.

“They say they can do their end in three to four months,” Linger said. “They work in many states. Down in the South, ambulance service is already countywide. We’ll get a few different proposals and go from there.”