Minutes 10-04-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Discussion on Oranqe County Chief's Association's "Strateqic Plan for the Provision of Emerqency Services" Chair Pelissier asked about the relationships between Emergency Services and the County and the fire departments. Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones said that Goal VII is very important to all of the chiefs, which is the building of better partnerships with all stakeholders. The consistent discussion amongst the chiefs is that this partnership has not existed for a number of years. He said that the Emergency Services Work Group and these annual meetings will begin the process of building a working relationship and these are all good steps. He said that a lot of the credit goes to Michael Talbert who has reached out to the chiefs and who has listened. Commissioner McKee said that it is critical that they not assume that because of the two annual meetings and that the Emergency Services work group has worked well, that they have suddenly arrived. He said that all issues need to be brought to the table forcibly. He does not want to leave issues or problems to fester. Commissioner Yuhasz made reference to Objective b in Goal VII, which is a discussion of provision of first responder EMS services. He said that this has evolved over time without any real plan for the fire departments. He asked how to go about providing more guidance about compensation and a better understanding of what is expected of fire departments. He said that there is no formalized plan to address these issues. Bill Waddell said that expenses they bear are incidentals such as oxygen, backboards, etc., and they do not mind startups with these, but they could help with it after that. He said that within their contracts they are not allowed to provide these services. He suggested considering the language within the contracts and reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses. Commissioner Foushee arrived at 7:50 PM. Commissioner Gordon said that there are fire services, which are within the purview of the departments, and then first responders, but her assumption is that the fire departments and Emergency Services have a working relationship. She asked how rescue fit into the services. South Orange Rescue Squad (SORS) Chief Matthew Mauzy said that a lot of the confusion is the definition of rescue. Traditionally, it was Emergency Services. He said that EMS has grown to mean an ambulance, EMT, and paramedic. He said that rescue is taking a patient, accessing a patient, and turning it over to a higher level of care. Commissioner Gordon asked if rescue is a separate service from the fire departments. Matthew Mauzy said that the rescue squad is franchised to provide EMS service and also technical rescue services. The issue of concern has focused on vehicle extrication services. Eno Fire Chief Bryan Baker said that they typically break it up into three components in the fire departments —fire, rescue, and EMS. For the fire departments, the rescue is the vehicle extrication aspect, the search and rescue, and the water rescue component. Michael Talbert said that in the North Chatham Fire Department contract, it defines rescue. He read this: "For the purposes of this agreement, the term `rescue' shall be defined as the furnishing of services to protect persons within the district from injury or death." Chair Pelissier said that in reference to the relationship between the fire departments and Emergency Services and from her perspective, she did not understand the big picture. She said that with the budget she only sees whether or not a fire district tax increase is suggested with no idea of what is going on. Now she has a much better idea. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the consultant's report and the recommendation that Emergency Services and the fire departments being located in the same building. She asked about the pros and cons of doing this.