Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The results are in....

After roughly 3 hours of deliberation the Downe Township committee voted on the following 3 resolutions:

  • R-54-2013 - Severing relations with Downe Township Emergency Mecial Services, Inc.
  • R-55-2013 - Rescinding resolution R-08-2013 and designating a first responder for Downe Township for emergency medical services for the remainder of 2013. (R-08-2013 designated Downe Township Emergency Medical Services, Inc. as the primary care provider for emergency medical service calls within Downe Township)
  • R-56-2013 - Approval to seek cooperation with Downe Township Emergency Medical Services, Inc. and the USDA for purposes of seeking a novation of a loan on the 2007 ambulance owned by Downe Township Emergency Medical Services, Inc.
But before they could vote on the resolutions, a resident, Bernie Sayers, asked the committee to table the resolutions until next meeting, to digest all the community support that was voiced for the reopening of DTEMS.  The mayor was adament about NOT postponing the vote.

ENTER MONKEY WRENCH!!!

Then the fact was brought up that Mr. Cook should not be able to vote, due to him being a member of DTEMS.  Mr. Carr, the township solicitor, stated that if the question has to be asked about a conflict, then one more than likely existed and that Mr. Cook should abstain from voting.

The committee discussed, publically, what they should do, as it pertained to the resolutions.  Then an official motion was made to table (postpone) the resolutions until next month...with no second motion.  Some more discussion amongst the committee took place regarding what should happen next.  A couple committee members were set on postponing the vote, while a couple of committee members wanted to vote right then and there.

Finally, the vote took place, and much to the dismay of a couple committee members, the vote ended deadlocked at 2, with 1 abstetion.  Wilford and Reynolds voted against the resolutions.  Bart and Campbell voted for the resolutions.  Cook had to abstain.

In the end, the situation is status quo.  Squad 36 still is not responding to emergency calls in Downe Township, however the township did not sever relations with  Squad 36, much to the obvious dismay of a couple committee members!  Squad 38 is still handling this obligation. 

As the Chief of the squad I want to say THANK YOU!!!  Thank you to all the residents that attended the meeting!  Thank you to all the residents that voiced their support for the squad and their displeasure towards the committee.  Your support ultimately made the vote on the above resolutions a tie.  Your voice was heard LOUD and CLEAR, and helped, at least one person, vote to keep things the same.  By keeping things status quo, this does not rule out the reopening of YOUR rescue squad.  We still have an uphill battle, but it is not as steep.

We, the squad, have some work to do to see this thing through.  Rest assured, we will do what we need to do to, until the next meeting.  We will, more than likely, face the same opposition at the next meeting on June 3, 2013.  The same 3 resolutions will, more than likely, be on the agenda...AGAIN!!!  We NEED the same support at this meeting that we had last night.  YOUR voice needs to be heard!!!

Again, THANK YOU for your support. 

And a big THANK YOU to Christine Wilford and Tammy Reynolds for your support.  The committee, as a whole, can SAY they support DTEMS, but with your votes, your support was SEEN!!! And actions speak louder than words!!!

We will keep you posted....

2 comments:

  1. It is very touching hearing the nice things the township residents have to say about Squad 36. As a member of the squad and the wife of the chief we give up a lot for the squad and in most cases people don't think about the squad until they need them. And even then the majority of feed back that squads tend to get is only if someone was unhappy with something. And not just our squad....most squads. It's so nice to get a thank you letter from a patient or their family but the support that we had last night was overwhelming. We strive very hard to do the best we can and we love what we do. Hopefully by the next township meeting there could be a change in opinion of at least one more committee person to want to help the squad fix the problems and run efficiently instead of just firing them and spending our tax dollars outside of our township. I was very confused at how the mayor could say that he knows you can't make 100% of calls but on the other hand that one missed call is too many. There are back ups set up for a reason...so that if and when you can't get out someone will be on the way for the people in need. No one wants to miss a call but it happens everywhere. Another point to be made is that the fire departments are set up to get dispatched when the squad is dispatched so there is help on scene prior to the ambulance arrival most times. They have members that are CPR certified and can do basic first aid until the ambulance gets there. you will hear that you are expected to arrive in scene within 9 minutes and that clock stops as soon as the fire department gets on scene so the patients ARE being cared for in a timely manner even if there was a few minute delay because we needed our back up to come in and take a call.

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