Select board considers ambulance service options, administrator search firms

Feb. 19, 2020 | Sarah Heinonen
sarah@thereminder.com

HAMPDEN – Officials from Hadley spoke with their counterparts in Hampden at the Feb. 18 select board meeting. Hadley Town Administrator David Nixon and Selectwoman Molly Keegan had been invited to share their experience with Action EMS, an ambulance service with which Hampden is considering a contract.

After 71 years of ambulance service from neighboring Amherst, Nixon said Hadley was facing issues around how to address an increase in the number of calls, the cost of service and the complexity of the calls, many of the same difficulties that Hampden is now dealing with.

After Hadley completed an ambulance study committee, which looked at factors such as cost and personnel, the town put out a request for proposals, to which Action EMS was the only response.

Keegan said that she went into the interview process with Action EMS skeptical, but said that the company “blew the minds of everyone at the table.”

“This is [Action EMS’s] core competency,” Keegan said. “They can get [patients] where they need to be so they can get the care they need.” She said the transition was smooth and response times exceeded the quotes they were given by a couple of minutes.

Keegan also said Action EMS has been “unbelievably transparent” with the oversight committee. Cooley Dickinson Hospital gave them an “A+” when the town asked for their opinion, she said.

Hampden Interim Town Administrator Bob Markle said that his experience with Action EMS in Ipswich was also positive and noted that he had no connection to the company.

There are between 1,000 and 1,100 ambulance calls per year in Hadley. Hadley has a core of 5,500 residents, but because of its shopping malls and arenas, the number of people in the town on a given day can reach between 30,000 and 50,000. Keegan said approximately 20 percent of the emergency calls are from people who live out of town.

Because Hadley’s calls are so consistent, the town ended up paying Action EMS nothing for the service because the cost was recouped through insurance payments that are split between the company and the town.

Although the cost of the service is significantly lower than other ambulance businesses in the area, Keegan said, “When you’re talking about public safety, it's not just about finances.”

The board is considering ambulance service proposals from both the fire department and Action EMS. Markel explained that the town was not interested in a contract with its current provider, American Medical Response (AMR), or National Ambulance since their proposals are in the $800,000 to $900,000 range per year to house an ambulance in town. Action EMS’s quote was $330,000.

“Response time performance is key,” said Action EMS President and CEO Michael Woronka, who was in the audience. “We also share all the financials,” Woronka said of the company’s transparency.

Hadley also has an extended mutual aid agreement as a backup to the two ambulances that Action EMS runs in the town.

The fire department also presented their proposal to run a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance alongside Action EMS’s Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance.

“It’s in Hampden’s best interest for Action to go on as many calls,” as possible to keep the price down, said Acting Fire Chief Ed Poulin. He said that Hampden has 400 to 450 calls per year and 80 percent of those calls require an ALS ambulance.

 The proposal would see the fire department’s BLS ambulance, which is staffed with EMTs rather than paramedics, respond to less dire circumstances or life-threatening emergencies if Action EMS is unavailable.

Poulin made the case that by using the BLS for non-life-threatening emergencies, Action EMS would be freed up to respond to more calls in and around Hampden which require transport to a hospital.

Frank McNeil of Action EMS said there should be plenty of calls and that Hamden and East Longmeadow are a “five to six-truck area.”

The department would run the BLS Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a crew of three EMS firefighters. An additional two per diem personnel would cover the next eight-hour shift until midnight.

The fire department would pay approximately $100,000 for a “gently used” BLS and $104,000 to hire of two per diem EMTs.

“I feel like this is a great service and opportunity for the fire department to provide to the town,” said Poulin.

On a related note, Markel said that the state is pushing towns to regionalize their dispatch services. He said Monson has recently signed on with a regional dispatch, WESTCOMM, and East Longmeadow is going to be working with Chicopee Control. Markel said Hamden will be “left standing alone.” He also said there is a financial incentive to regionalize, in that running dispatch costs approximately $400,000 per year.

The select board interviewed two municipal search firms to aid in the town’s search for a permanent town administrator.

Bernie Lynch, of the firm Community Paradigm Associates, said that over the three to four years he’s been in business, about half of the town administrator and town manager positions in the state have turned over.

He said Community Paradigm Associates is the most active search firm in the state: they have worked with towns of Palmer and East Longmeadow. Their website receives almost 5,000 hits a month and Lynch said, “We use that network to spread the word and help you build that pool of candidates.”

Both Lynch and Mary Aicardi of the Collins Institute / UMass Boston said that the first step is getting to know the town and its needs as well as what it has to offer potential administrators.

Lynch said that candidates are looking at the political stability of the town, salary and a position that “matches where you are in your career.” He said Hampden will likely attract an entry-level administrator.

“We want to recruit, not just interested people, but the right people,” said Aicardi. “Oftentimes, the best person for the job isn’t looking for a job,” she said. The firm will reach out to contacts, whether they are actively searching or not. Also, she said, they’re seeing more “non-traditional candidates” from other areas of municipal government, the private sector and the military.

The representatives from both companies described their vast array of contacts in the industry, both in and out of the state. Both are also willing to hold public forums to get an idea of what skills and attributes the town in looking for in its next administrator.

The Collins Institute / UMass Boston, which Aicardi said has worked in almost 250 out of 351 towns in Massachusetts, including Ludlow, runs background checks, criminal offender record information (CORI) checks, credit checks, and professional references. They will also schedule everything for the select board. The one thing she said her firm does not do is negotiate contracts.

Davenport asked each firm about the potential of a part-time administrator and both Lynch and Aicardi said that part-time candidates are available but not common. Aicardi said many places are going to four-day week positions, but each person said that “circuit riders,” who work in more than one town, are rare now.

When asked, Lynch told Selectman John Flynn that residency requirements are often waived as it shrinks the pool of candidates.

Selectwoman Mary Ellen Glover asked if the company can assess what a town really needs.

“We can come in and do that preliminary work,” and then start the search, Lynch said, although it would extend the typical 15 to 16-week timeline.

Glover also asked if the firm would ask for feedback from residents regarding the desired traits for the new administrator. Lynch said that in Amherst, the company hosted four community forums because it is “a very engaged community.” When Glover asked about the added cost for the community engagement, Lynch responded, “I think it’s worth it.”

Town Accountant Cliff Bombard asked about towns, such as Hampden, in which most positions are elected.

“You need to be able to build consensus,” Lynch said and added that most administrators are more skilled in that today than in the past.

Resident Robin Wagner presented the board with a list of questions and concerns from people in town. She asked that the select board meetings be better publicized and videoed to allow people who cannot attend the meetings to be informed.

Wagner said people often express concern that “taxes keep going up, services keep going down.” She told the board, “The people that built this town they can’t afford to retire in it.” She asked if the town had a strategic plan to raise revenue without raising taxes.

Flynn said the town is working on other sources of revenue, including the proposed Ameresco solar installation.

“Ninety-eight percent of the tax base is residential,” Flynn said and that the town is looking for new innovative ways,” to raise revenue.

Wagner voiced concerns about and asked if it was violating their contract with the town by moving the ambulance farther away and stretching response times.

Markel said, “the town has an agreement, but we’re not paying anything.” He said Hampden has no street crime and few fires. “The real public safety issue is ambulance response times,” Markel said. Glover suggested Wagner attend the ambulance subcommittee meetings to learn more.

A vendor was approved by the board for electronic recycling days.

The mini-mall has reported that two septic tanks have been purchased and there is a timetable in place for their replacement.

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