By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Village of Darien Board was included on an updated plan to provide 24/7 Fire/EMS coverage across six municipalities on April 20. The other municipalities are the Town of Darien, the Village and Town of Sharon, and the Village and Town of Walworth.
Village Administrator Rebecca LeMire said three departments currently service the six communities and could share costs if they worked together. She said if all the municipalities approve the plan, a referendum would be placed on the November ballot in some of the communities to see if the taxpayers would support additional taxes to pay for the plan. Some of the municipalities have the necessary funds available and would not need to raise taxes to pay for it.
Supervisor Ken Truckey said a lot of work has gone into the plan already and it’s moving in the right direction.
A memo about the plan said the three departments have been working on it for over a year in an effort to provide round-the-clock paramedic-level service to the area. The plan is in response to challenges in staffing volunteer departments over the last 10 years as municipalities have tightened budgets and made less money available for volunteer departments. In addition, fewer new volunteers have been available to fill positions vacated by retiring volunteers.
The memo said all three departments have managed to continue to provide services in this environment, however sometimes no ambulance is available and some calls go unanswered leading to patients having to wait for service from another department.
The plan would include hiring a private service provider for EMS and fire protection coverage in the service area. The provider would pay employees and provide administrator functions including insurance, payroll and benefits. The departments would provide the equipment, vehicles, supplies, uniforms, radios, medical supplies and more.
The goals of the plan would be to increase the level of service to a 24/7 paramedic-level EMS service, a decrease in response time, a solidified partnership between the six municipalities, maintenance of the current volunteer and paid-on-call programs, training opportunities, shared costs among the communities, and new efficiencies on training and joint planning for future equipment and facilities.
The plan calls for a three-year contract with a provider and a three-year intergovernmental agreement between the municipalities that would begin Jan. 1, 2021 and go through Dec. 31, 2023.
The memo said the start-up cost would be significant but still less than trying to create a “Fire District” that would have to employ full-time personnel. The estimated cost of the plan is around $500,000 a year, which would be split among the participating municipalities based on equalized value, population and call volume.
No action was taken at the April 20 meeting.
