Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Town of Tonawanda and Twin City Ambulance met last week, and the two sides have agreed to terminate the current contract, as the town prepares for its own ambulance service.
Terry Clark says the meeting with town leaders focused on the issues he noticed in the Fitch Associates study, and also gave the town notice Twin City was ending its contract at the end of this year.
"However, we will be continuing to operate, pretty much as we have been, until such time as the Tonawanda program is up and running, and at that point, hopefully we'll have a different agreement in place and have an idea of what we'll be doing and what our role will be," said Clark with WBEN.
The issue with the Fitch report is it's not based on any numbers and data from ambulance transport, which concerns him.
"While I don't think there's a problem with the calculations, the calculations are, in fact, based on some erroneous information, and we'd like to be included in any updates and review of that information," Clark said.
"This is foundational data. Approximately two thirds of all the calculations in the Fitch document are contingent on this data being correct, and unfortunately, it's not accurate. These calculations help determine the amount of resources they will need to cover calls, and by extension, to calculate the overall cost to run the service."
Tonawanda Town Supervisor Joe Emminger says Twin City Ambulance and Town of Tonawanda both understand the current agreement that went into effect in 2003 is outdated, and needs to be negotiated under current market conditions.
"The Fitch study was an independent study performed by a leading consulting firm in the EMS field and we believe the study gives us the information we were looking for to make an informed decision in the best interests of the residents of the town," Emminger added.
Both Emminger and Clark agreed that going forward, if there is to be any agreement entered into between Twin City Ambulance and the Town of Tonawanda, the parties would have to sit down and negotiate new terms since the agreement that is currently in effect was entered into over 20 years ago.
Emminger says the town is preparing to start is own ambulance service in the new year, hopefully by January.
