OH Residents Unhappy with EMS Proposal

Oct. 29, 2018
A proposal to replace Liberty Township's EMS operations with paramedics and ambulances from Delaware County is being met with opposition.

Oct. 29 -- A proposal to replace Liberty Township's emergency services operations with paramedics and ambulances from Delaware County was met with opposition Monday.

The proposal had been discussed for several weeks, and earlier this month Liberty Township trustees asked Delaware County Administrator Michael Frommer to formalize it.

But before Delaware County Commissioners could discuss the plan, several supporters of the township's existing service spoke out against it.

"This would be a huge downgrade in our service," said township resident Becca Mount. She said Liberty Township ambulances have a driver and two paramedics, one more than the county.

Scaling back services, Mount said, would likely lead to higher insurance rates for residents due to a lower insurance rating. The Insurance Services Organization, which evaluates more than 44,000 fire departments and agencies nationwide, every 10 years, ranks EMS based on a risk-assessment scale.

Joshua Loney, a Delaware resident who has relatives and friends in the township, said cutbacks, even to save money, are not a good idea. "You can't do more with less. You can only do less with less."

Delaware County Emergency Medical Services is a misnomer, experts say, because the county is really a patchwork of seven independent fire districts. Liberty Township would continue its firefighting operations under the proposal.

"Look at a county-based EMS system for everybody, the haves and the have-nots" Chalaco Clark, a Liberty Township firefighter who said he was speaking as a Sunbury resident, told Delaware County Commissioners. "Do what you need to do properly, please."

About two dozen firefighters, paramedics and residents attended Monday's meeting. Seven of them spoke.

Commissioner Barb Lewis took the side of the critics. "This issue is really being rushed," she said. "Has there been the appropriate study done?"

She added, "How is this saving money?"

The proposal, she said, will result in the loss of as many as 18 township jobs and is estimated to cost the county as much as $1 million in the first year.

She added that "it's a slap in the face of Liberty Township residents," who a year ago passed a 5-year renewal levy for fire and EMS by 75 percent.

Commissioner Gary Merrell reminded the audience that the proposal was just an option.

"It doesn't mean we're going to do anything," he said. "Ultimately those trustees will make an evaluation: 'It makes sense or it doesn't make sense.'"

Commissioner Jeff Benton, a frequent critic of redundant services, assured people that county services are excellent and quality of care, response times and costs would not change.

"It would all be the same," he said. "I think we owe it to our residents, if there's a topic that would reduce taxes, to look at it."

Liberty Township Trustee Melanie Leneghan said she agrees, as long as services remain the same.

"At the end of the day, if two of three of us say we want (county EMS) in the township then they have to provide it, she said.

___ (c)2018 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Visit The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) at www.dispatch.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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