Village Board Minutes

February 8, 2011 (39)

An emergency joint meeting of the Town and Village boards was held February 8, 2011 at 5:30 PM at Town Hall, 600 Palmer Ave.

Supervisor Lucia called the meeting to order.

Roll Call: Mayor Winslow, Trustees Denno, Densmore and Lescault were present. Trustee Enekes was excused. Also present were Dept Clerk/Treas Lissow, Fire Chief Kelley, and Attorney Martin Auffredou.
Town Officials: Supervisor Lucia, Councilmen Brown, Byrnes, and Saunders; Clerk Rose E. Farr; Attorney Robert Hafner, and Highway Superintendent Shawn Eggleston.

Supervisor Lucia explained that there would be no public comments taken at this meeting. The public would be free to speak at the Town Board meeting on February 10. He also stated that the front door was not locked during a previous Town Board meeting, contrary to a recent report.

Supervisor Lucia reported that on February 3, 2011, the Town Board had ratified a resolution establishing an ambulance service to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) services to the town and village, since the Emergency Squad can no longer provide paramedic service. Atty Hafner explained that the Department of Health advised him that since the Village is a separate municipality, the Village would need to pass its own resolution.

The Mayor and Trustees spoke of their frustration that they were not contacted by Town officials regarding this issue prior to the loss of the ALS service. They felt that residents need the best emergency care available and were shocked that the situation had deteriorated to this point.

Trustee Lescault stated that the lack of communication from the Town was an error, since the issue put residents’ lives in danger.

Trustee Denno also expressed her frustration with the lack of communication and asked if there was any chance of working out the situation with the Squad.

Atty Hafner stated that negotiations with the Emergency Squad had been ongoing for months, and that the Squad’s attorney had indicated that services would be continued. He stated that he and the Town Board were unaware of the loss of ALS until after the fact.

Councilman Saunders noted that negotiations with the Squad had started in July and that 2 councilmen had been sent to meet with the Squad. He felt that the present Squad administration needs to resign.

Trustee Densmore spoke of the long history of the squad and her family’s involvement with it and noted her dismay at the situation.

Mayor Winslow spoke of learning about the issue from a resident’s phone call. He felt there should have been a Board meeting prior to this point, but now the Board needs to move forward so that residents will have the best emergency care available.

Supervisor Lucia stated that current emergency services are: from 6AM to 6PM, the Town of Corinth is on automatic mutual aid, and from 6PM to 6AM, the Emergency Squad provides Basic Life Support (BLS) services only. He noted that the Town Board had explored several options, such as contracting with an outside service, but felt that the establishment of a town ambulance service was the best option. If the DOH approves the application, full emergency services might be restored in 2 weeks.

Resolution #46 approved, authorizing support of the Town of Corinth’s establishment of ambulance service to provide advanced life support services, pursuant to DOH requirements.
Carried – 4 – 0

ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Trustee Lescault, seconded by Trustee Densmore that Board adjourn, 6:04 PM
Carried – 3 - 0

Alice M. Lissow
Deputy Clerk/Treasurer