Regional ambulance idea gains traction with decision by Berlin
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A patient is loaded into a Barre Town EMS ambulance at the scene of a car accident earlier this year in Berlin. Berlin officials signed an extension with Barre Town's ambulance service while they study a regional approach with other towns. Stefan Hard/Times Argus file |
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: April 22, 2009
BERLIN – Three proposals to provide ambulance service for most of Berlin for the next five years were dead on arrival late last month, even though town officials didn't know it at the time.
The cause of death?
Acute interest in participating in a regional discussion of public safety services with all three of the communities vying for Berlin's business.
This week Berlin's selectboard unanimously rejected bids from Barre, Barre Town and Montpelier without ever opening them, opting instead to sign a one-year extension with Barre Town Emergency Medical Service.
That move should buy the time necessary to seriously explore a recently floated – but as yet ill-defined — proposal to discuss consolidating some emergency services in the heart of central Vermont.
At a minimum, those discussions will include ambulance service, but regionalizing firefighting and law enforcement, two other expensive municipal services, are also strong possibilities.
Earlier this month members of the Berlin board delayed opening the ambulance bids that they had solicited and attended a joint meeting with officials from Barre, Barre Town and Montpelier. Officials in Barre and Barre Town called the meeting in hopes it would serve as a valuable springboard to a broader discussion about how emergency services are delivered in central Vermont.
The Berlin board's patience and willingness to participate in a candid discussion of regionalization is a positive sign.
Board member Susan Gretkowski said the prospect of those discussions was a new and important wrinkle that surfaced after the town recently went shopping for a five-year ambulance contract to replace the agreement with BTEMS that will expire June 30.
"I do think the circumstances have changed," Gretkowski said, arguing in favor of rejecting all of the bids and signing a contract extension with BTEMS.
According to Gretkowski, signing a short-term contract would give the town a "one-year window to enter into discussions from a regional perspective." The success or failure of those discussions would dictate Berlin's next move without limiting its options, she said.
Board member Jonathan Goddard agreed.
"Having this contract extended for a year is the right thing to do," he said, suggesting recent interest in a regional service created a level of uncertainty going forward.
"There are a lot of moving parts right now," he said. As soon as the board rejected the bids and authorized Chairman Brad Towne to sign the one-year, one-page contract extension with BTEMS, a member of the town's volunteer fire department said that non-profit corporation was contemplating launching an ambulance service of its own.
"The corporation is considering potentially offering emergency medical services for the town of Berlin," Scott Bagg said, suggesting the department could have a plan in place by November if the selectboard would be willing to consider it.
"We didn't want to move forward if there wasn't interest from our selectboard," he said.
Bagg acknowledged that a Berlin-only service "goes against the regionalization concept," but argued that shifting to a "dual service" – fire and ambulance – could rescue a volunteer fire department that potentially faces a "… very bleak future."
According to Bagg, the department could not be in a position to offer the service this year, and would need to go to the voters to finance a potential expansion of operations that would include the acquisition of one or more ambulances and a budget that would provide for round-the-clock staffing.
Former board member Patricia McDonald said the proposal should be part of a larger review. "At some point we're all going to get to a place where it's too costly for us all to have our own services," she said.
Gretkowski agreed.
"I would just like to see it folded into the whole discussion on regionalization," she said of the volunteer fire department's proposal.
Ironically, it was the East Montpelier Volunteer Fire Department's recent decision to launch an ambulance service covering East Montpelier and Calais that sparked renewed interest in a regional ambulance service. Like Berlin, both East Montpelier and Calais have contracted for ambulance service with BTEMS since 1996, and, like Berlin, those two communities' latest five-year contracts with BTEMS expire June 30.
East Montpelier's decision to start its own ambulance service July 1 represented a financial blow to Barre Town's stand-alone ambulance service and concerns were heightened by the prospect Berlin could contract with another community.
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