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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-25-STBSPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING Town of Ulysses June 25, 2014 Audio of the minutes are available on the website at ulysses.ny.us. The meeting was held at the Ulysses Town Hall at 10 Elm Street, Trumansburg. PRESENT: Supervisor- Liz Thomas Board members- Rich Goldman, John Hertzler, Nancy Zahler, David Kerness Clerk- Carissa Parlato 2nd Deputy Supervisor- Michelle Wright Notice of Town Board meetings are posted on the website and clerk's board. Ms. Thomas called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. and noted the focus of the meeting: Fire/EMS. She went on to give a brief overview and history: • Towns are not required to provide fire service. • Towns are not allowed to have a fire department but can have a fire company to manage a fire district; or they may contract with another municipality for services, as Ulysses does. These policies have posed problems for consolidation as the Governor has encouraged. • The Trumansburg Fire Department used to be staffed only by volunteers who served as first responders until the ambulance arrived. This was not an ideal situation as there was a long wait for the ambulance. Around 1999-2000, they began paying staff. • The state mandates that the average response time for emergency medical assistance be 9 minutes or less. • The Trumansburg Fire/EMS has contracts that include Covert, Hector, Ulysses, and possibly a few others. In 2012 the other towns, excluding Ulysses, began to bill. • Some of the financial issues of Fire/EMS are related to unfunded mandates for training and equipment. • In 2011, the town suggested setting up a board with 2 representatives from Ulysses, 2 from the Village of Trumansburg, 1 from Hector, and 1 from Covert. The village felt that this would be inefficient for management. (Mr. Kerness recommended that such a board be only advisory in nature to alleviate that concern). The group discussed billing. The towns that are billing are collecting about 40% of their total costs. There are several aspects of the topic that the board would like to explore: • A charity policy • The demography of the calls • A potential increase in costs for fire- it is currently staffed entirely by volunteers • How to get involved in the decision-making of Trumansburg Fire/EMS 2 Ms. Wright questioned whether it makes sense to divide the town into 2 ambulance districts- north and south. Mr. Goldman was excused at 9:39am. The group proposed another meeting to continue the discussion. ADJOURN: Ms. Thomas made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:45am, seconded by Mr. Hertzler. Respectfully submitted by Carissa Parlato, 7/1/14