Yorktown moves toward study on EMS funding as calls for long-term solution grow

As calls for a long-term emergency medical services funding solution grow louder, Yorktown is moving closer to a study of potential revenue options.

The proposed study would examine alternative funding options to stabilize revenue for the two volunteer ambulance corps — Mohegan EMS and the Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Mohegan EMS serves the Town of Yorktown as well as parts of the Town of Cortlandt.

The Town of Cortlandt previously agreed to the study, and after the second roundtable last month, Yorktown appeared poised to follow suit.

The roundtable on May 28 came on the heels of a fatal fire in Cortlandt Manor that claimed the lives of two teenage siblings. Cortlandt Town Supervisor Richard Becker thanked the first responders seated around the table for their “heroism,” which he and fellow Cortlandt Town Board members Joyce White, Robert Mayes and Deputy Supervisor James Creighton, who were in attendance, cited as an example of why emergency services need adequate funding.

Chief Matt Kness said Mohegan EMS was among the responders at the Cortlandt Manor fire and at a second fatal fire in Peekskill that claimed the life of another 15-year-old boy.

“Our staff did everything they could to give those children and their families a fighting chance,” Kness said in an email to Yorktown News. “These incidents only highlight the gravity of what we're asking for here. We're asking for the opportunity to be able to support our community with consistent and reliable funding. We aren't some miscellaneous program that only some community members benefit from - we work for everybody.”

Kness said he appreciates the support for emergency medical services to progress and that, for Mohegan EMS, the study scope should focus on how it could supplement its current model.

“We have debated what we're going to get out of that study—some people think not much, some people refer to the county studies, the state studies and all these different studies and haven’t been able to accomplish anything,” Yorktown Town Supervisor said at the roundtable on May 28. “From the local level, we need to walk down the path.”

A few days later, at the Yorktown Town Board’s June 2 meeting, Lachterman said he wants the study’s scope to “look at anything and everything to make sure, first and foremost, that we are able to provide the level of service that we'd like to provide for our residents and make sure that we could continue to do so.”

YVAC Vice Chairman Jeff Siegel and board member Jeanne Pollock said a merger was a nonstarter, though Lachterman said keeping an open mind was important. Members also told the board they were already working with a third-party vendor to maximize insurance reimbursements and further stated that they were not interested in merging with Mohegan EMS.

“The question is, if you're going to do that with us, are you gonna look at merging the fire departments into one department,” Siegal asked during public comment on June 2.

He said all emergency services should be treated the same way. That sentiment appears to be shared by members of the corps.

Pollock also attended the late-May joint meeting and spoke up at the town board meeting.

“The unanimous agreement to proceed, in an expeditious manner, with an RFP had the explicit understanding that the scope was to be an exploration of ways to provide funding,” Pollock said, referring to the services provided by YVAC and Mohegan EMS, which serve Yorktown and Cortlandt and respond to thousands of calls each annually.”

Pollock added that “neither Mohegan VAC or Yorktown VAC would tolerate, or even consider a joint merger of our organization ... It’s not feasible, it's not realistic, it won't happen, no matter how many people study it. To expand the scope of the RFP to include that option would be a waste of time and money and would cause an inexcusable delay in moving the study we do want.”

She said a study that considers a merger would “muddy the waters” and would insert what she called “extraneous things” that “the joint attendees of last week's meeting did not agree to.”

Kness told Yorktown News on June 8 that his representatives who attended the meeting came back with positive feedback, but he shared the perspective with YVAC that Mohegan EMS also would not support a merger and said they “do not think combining agencies is a viable option nor do we believe that should be studied.”

He cited the town’s two fire districts—Yorktown Heights Fire District and the Lake Mohegan Fire District—and asked, “Why can't we continue that same successful model and apply that to ambulance districts. Moreover, we'd be asking for far less money than what the fire districts receive.”

The Town Board then voted 4-0, with Councilwoman Susan Siegel abstaining, to advertise a request for proposals. Lachterman said board members will have an opportunity to review the RFP before it is advertised.

Siegel told Yorktown News she abstained on “general principle,” saying she did not want to vote to advertise the RFP before reviewing it. She said she agreed with the two volunteer agencies that insurance issues should not be included in the RFP and that the current study does not need to examine a merger, though she would be open to such a study in the future.

“The current issue on the table is very specific and focused: how to provide supplement funding to the VACs,” Siegel said. “It was never meant to be a more general study that explored what level of service the  town wants.”

It is still too early for officials to determine when proposals may be received.