REMS and Mohawk explain bids to Town Board
Rotterdam’s ambulance service provider could be decided in the coming weeks after the Town Board got answers to questions it had on the competing companies’ bids.
The long-awaited decision for the Rotterdam Town Board to choose between Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services and Mohawk Ambulance Service took another step forward on Monday, May 2, as both agencies gave presentations during a special meeting. While not much has changed from past proposals, REMS added free billing services and said it would give all advanced life support (ALS) revenue to the town.
Supervisor Frank Del Gallo said at the end of the meeting that the board will discuss when the vote will be set for the decision, but no clear date was given.
Councilwoman Nicola DiLeva questioned how REMS has been surviving without tax support.
Where we’re giving you $120,000 a year and then we went out for a tax and it did not pass and the gas was taken away and I was told several times prior to the vote that if that did not pass, [REMS] would not be able to survive, said DiLeva. `How are you surviving? This is the question that everybody in town wants to know.`
Peter Brodie, consultant for REMS, said the company has `taken a step back` to evaluate how it does business. Two new ambulances REMS purchased after being awarded a federal grant helped reduce the replacement expenses, which had been a strong argument for the tax district.
The biggest change to REMS, though, is a more aggressive billing procedure.
`If a town resident whose taxes contributed to operation before wasn’t able to pay or didn’t possibly pay, then we didn’t hard bill them and we didn’t aggressively pursue their payment, because their taxes helped pay for the service,` said Brodie. `Now we are hard billing and if a patient doesn’t pay for their bill, they do go to collection.`
The tax district’s failing, said Brodie, forced REMS to re-evaluate its billing practices. If the tax district passed, REMS would have set a tax rate for the public to pay for services rendered, similar to fire districts.
DiLeva said she knows there are questions about what happened in the past with the agency and Del Gallo questioned where past ALS billing funds through a verbal agreement with the previous board. Del Gallo previously said he would pursue an audit of REMS for the ALS funds, but an audit hasn’t been completed.
On a handout given to audience members and the board, REMS listed potential revenue for the town through ALS billing in 2011 and 2012, but 2009 and 2010 were blacked out. This led Del Gallo to question if any ALS fees were collected in 2009. Chairman of REMS Board of Directors Joe VanDerwerker said he wasn’t sure.
`Who keeps the books, nobody?` asked Del Gallo.
John Jankey, from Rotterdam Fire District 3, said no one has questioned REMS’ quality of service.
`I haven’t heard anybody debate that they are getting terrible service from REMS, so why would you change something that wasn’t broke?` said Jankey. `We are arguing over money, and not quality of care.`
Mohawk, meanwhile, repeated that it is committed to finding an appropriate property to house ambulances in the town. Like REMS, Mohawk said it would commit one ambulance 24/7 to the town.
`We certainly would like to buy a building or lease it first, depending on the availability of commercial property,` said Richard Brandt, vice president of operations for Mohawk.
Some residents were concerned that Mohawk might not really set up inside the town and that if it did, it would happen slowly.
Brandt continued to stress it would look for a location within the town.
`You can’t expect us to buy a building in the hopes that we might be awarded a contract,` said Brandt.
When the vote happens, only four board members might vote.
Councilman Wayne Calder disclosed that his son-in-law works for Mohawk, which he said was one of the first thing he told fellow board members when he was elected.
`As far as I am concerned I don’t believe because of my son-in-law’s position and job with Mohawk Ambulance, I don’t believe it makes any conflict of interest, but just to make sure I have referred this issue to our town attorney for an opinion,` said Calder. `It is too important of a decision to have anybody call it out later and say I shouldn’t have or should have voted and I don’t want to deal with that.`
Calder said he doesn’t have any financial interest in the ambulance contract being awarded to either company. He said the best interest of the town would be how he makes his decision.“
