One year after a dispute over funding and mismanagement, the relationship between the town/village of Harrison and its independent emergency medical services corps may be healthier than ever.
Last week, the town signed a one-year contract with the Harrison Emergency Medical Services, EMS. According to Al Mignone, chairman of the Harrison EMS board of directors, the corps has not had a contract with the municipality it provides coverage to for at least 12 years.
Last year, tensions between the town and the EMS reached a breaking point when the EMS did not receive its quarterly subsidy of $137,500 from the town going into April. EMS said it would be forced to discontinue services after not receiving the funding necessary to help finance the operation. In return, the town said that it did not administer funding because the EMS was being mismanaged and lacked financial transparency.
Officials from the town and the EMS each pointed to former Councilman Joe Stout, a Democrat who served on the Town Council until December 2016, as playing a crucial role in finding a solution between the two parties. Stout applauded the EMS’ attempts to make “good-faith efforts” to resolve its issues with the town since April. “They needed to spend some time on the business of the business,” he told the Review. “We never had a problem with care.”
While those efforts addressed several points of contention between the two sides, the town remained skeptical, and continued to withhold its quarterly subsidy from the EMS. And instead, the town began administering monthly payments of $48,833, which it continued through the end of 2016.
In September, after removing the former chief from the EMS, the organization restructured its ranks, abolishing the chief position. In the process, Eric Singer, an EMT with the corps and a captain in the town of Cortlandt’s volunteer EMS corps, was appointed as the first executive director of the Harrison EMS. Paramedics Lucinda Mercado and Hector Fuentes were also named director and assistant director, respectively.
The new contract allows the town to develop an oversight committee to monitor the EMS’ business operations, which Singer said he was in favor of. “This gives us a chance to—I call it bragging rights—to show how good we’re doing,” he said. Since Singer became executive director, the corps has made several changes behind the scenes, including using a new billing company capable of tracking more data.
The town’s 2017 municipal budget shows that funding to EMS has been reduced by about 10 percent—$60,100—from the 2016 budget. According to Mignone, the town requested EMS reduce its budget before entering into a yearly contract. The department will receive $521,900 in funding this year.
Since April, the EMS board of directors has also undergone personnel change, including the additions of Vincent Straface and Sharif Nesheiwat. Mignone said that although the corps was in a period of austerity while funding was month to month, now that its future is more secure, the board of directors will begin its long-term planning process.
In an interview with the Review in September, Singer shared his vision of expanding the corps’ community outreach and social media presence. In March, EMS initiated its CPR teaching program, Harrison Emergency Lifesaving Program, HELP, which it plans to administer regularly around town.
Ron Benson, public information officer for the EMS, said it was also stationing ambulances downtown and in West Harrison for several hours each day. He said the EMS is working to send a message to the town. “We’re here,” he said. “We’re looking to serve and be there for the residents and the businesses.”
Neither Jonathan Kraut, an attorney for the town, nor Mayor Ron Belmont could be reached for comment as of press time.
Nearly a year after Harrison EMS said it would have to discontinue services due to lack of funding, the organization has agreed to a one-year contract with the town for the first time in more than a decade. File photo
