UCI proposes $125,000 to cover UCO fire, EMS
By CYNTHIA AUKERMAN
News-Gazette reporter
Union City, Ind. officials have proposed a contract to provide fire and emergency services for the village of Union City, Ohio at a cost of $125,000 a year. That proposal went to UCO council members on Monday, July 21 as a starting point for discussion purposes.
UCO council members Bill Bruggeman and Tony Maloy have been meeting with UCI officials for several months about consolidating fire and EMS services in Union City.
In a phone interview Friday, Bruggeman said, "A community of this size doesn't need two fire departments. Financially, we would be better off contracting for fire and EMS. And it's not just today's budget; it's the future trends that are going to be forced upon us. Change is coming."
Bruggeman said the issue was not a matter of one side being better than the other. However, for many months the UCO Fire Department has had trouble responding in a timely fashion and has relied heavily on UCI for mutual aid.
A listing of mutual aid from UCI to UCO shows the following times UCO EMS did not respond or was unable to respond:
* in December, three occasions, including one call on a reported seizure with the UCO ambulance unable to respond after multiple dispatches;
* in January, three occasions, including one respiratory distress call that resulted in UCI providing advanced cardiac life support for the patient to a hospital;
* in February, six calls, including one case of seizure and one case of chest pain that involved advanced cardiac life support transport to a hospital;
* in June, two cases, also involving ALS transport.
Union City's two fire departments have a mutual aid pact that automatically sends both departments to the scene of any structure fire. One notation on the list of mutual aid calls shows the UCI Fire Department responded to a fire on St. Rt. 571 on July 12 six minutes sooner than the UCO department did. In many fire calls, the UCI department apparently responded with more personnel.
UCO Fire Chief Bobby Joe Austerman has pointed out to council members that a full-time paid staff with someone always on station naturally responds to calls faster than a "volunteer" staff. The UCI Fire Department has permanent, full-time paid staff, while the UCO Fire Department has part-time paid "volunteers."
UCI Mayor Bryan Conklin has expressed concerns over the village's liability exposure rising out of its inability to respond to emergency calls. He said UCI taxpayers are already providing services to the village under mutual aid, but without compensation.
The contract Conkllin has proposed would provide the village with full-time staffing with a minimum of three full-time certified firefighters/EMTs on duty around the clock, one of which would be a paramedic. Paramedics are trained and licensed to provide advanced cardiac life support, including the administration of medicines en route to a hospital.
Other provisions of the proposed contract include:
* a time period of 10 years, with a cost of living increase not to exceed three percent a year;
* UCI would take ownership of the Ohio side's 2002 American La France fire truck and its corresponding equipment, as well as its 2006 Ford ambulance. UCI would purchase other equipment after two mutually-agreed upon appraisals.
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