A resolution on tonight’s (Thursday, March 12) Colonie Town Board meeting agenda could have Colonie EMS personnel acting as lookouts for New York State Police when they go on flight rescue missions as part of the LifeGuard Air Rescue Program.
The resolution calls for Supervisor Paula Mahan to execute a modification of understanding with State police, which would allow EMS personnel to sit in the pilot and co-pilot seats on the flight missions and have the town held harmless should a person be injured.
According to Town Attorney Michael Magguilli, while the Town and State police were working out the details of the contract that would keep the LifeGuard Air Rescue Program, a program that was at one point this year in jeopardy, going.
Originally, Magguilli said his concern was that having EMS personnel ride in the front seats was a liability to the town.
`Essentially, our people were acting as unpaid State employees,` Magguilli said.
Now, should the resolution be passed, the town would be held harmless and indemnified instead of liable.
For more on this story, check back at www.spotlightnews.com, or read the Wednesday, March 25 print edition of the Colonie Spotlight.
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