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Date: 12/26/2023
SOUTHAMPTON — Easthampton Fire Chief Christopher Norris, and Southampton acting Fire Chief Richard Fasoli, went before Southampton’s Selectboard on Dec. 19 to discuss sharing a fire inspector between the town and city. First, Norris had to clarify why a mutual aid call by the city’s ambulance triggers a $500 charge for Southampton.
A basic problem? Not enough paramedics in town. Fasoli told the board the state requires round the clock coverage the town does not have.
“The state requires 24/7 coverage at the medic level,” Fasoli said. “We’re trying our best. I just hired a medic, two more got promoted to medic, but we still have gaps in our schedule.”
Norris said that most of the agreement had to happened prior to him taking over as fire chief in 2020. He explained that state officials examined the town’s ambulance services and found serious deficiencies. The state demanded better paramedic coverage, either through internal changes or an external agreement with another fire department.
Southampton signed an agreement for mutual aid with the city of Easthampton. Board Chair Christine Fowles and member Jon Lumbra discussed how the details of the contract changed. Fowles recalled the charge per call was originally $200 while Lumbra thought it was more.
“The original mutual aid agreement, prior to you becoming fire chief of Easthampton, had an allowance of 11 or 12 and after that the charges kicked in at $300,” Lumbra told Norris. “Then it got changed to $500 and now the original 11 or 12 seem to have vanished.”
Easthampton’s fire chief said the state validated the agreement. Norris detailed how the agreement foregoes the $500 charge for the first 25 calls, mutual aid in the classic sense, free of charge. When Norris looked at the data in 2020 the mutual aid picture was severely out of balance. The city offered mutual aid to its smaller neighbor much more often. The imbalance suggested an agreement would address the shortfall.
This year, Southampton offered mutual aid to the city just 15 times. Easthampton offered mutual aid, both paid and unpaid, a total of 180 times. The last 155 calls ran up charges to Southampton of $77,500.
The charges are a moot point. When Lumbra asked if the town could charge an Easthampton patient on one of the 15 mutual aid trips the Southampton ambulance made to the city, Norris said the town can’t charge for those calls. It didn’t matter anyway. Ultimately, the town would get that money back.
“You would be billing the patient’s insurance company,” Norris said.
Norris explained that if the city’s ambulance offered mutual aid to the town, after the first 25 calls the city would charge the town $500 per transport. The town would pay Easthampton under the mutual aid agreement, then bill the patient’s insurance carrier for a reimbursement. The risk is that a patient may not have insurance. Under the mutual aid agreement, the town would probably still be obligated to pay the charge.
Board members turned the discussion to the grant for a shared fire inspector. Norris said he approached Fasoli with the idea about a month ago. The state’s Efficiency and Regionalization grant program funds one-time or transitional costs for municipalities and school districts looking to cut costs by regionalizing services.
“I personally think that’s a great idea … for Chief Norris to work with Chief Fasoli to apply for that grant,” Fowles said.
The grant would pay the inspector’s salary for a year. Town Administrator Ed Gibson said grants from the program are good for one year and are usually not renewed. Norris said the grant program funded a shared fire chief in Mendon and shared town managers elsewhere. Sharing staff is no longer a risky new idea.
Fasoli informed the board his department could be more active in inspections.
He said, “Propane tanks, liquor store licenses, there’s quite a few more inspections that could be done in town, that haven’t been done.”
The inspector would serve both communities, though Easthampton has the lion’s share of need. Norris said a 50-50 split wouldn’t be feasible. A prorated amount based on the number of inspections is more equitable.
No grant amount was mentioned, though Lumbra commented the fire inspector would probably be paid less than the chief. He intimated the next fire chief in Southampton will be offered a salary of about $90,000.
The one year efficiency and regionalization grant will facilitate the hiring and integration of the inspector into each fire department. After that, each municipality will have to come up with its own longterm plan. A primary goal of the program is to establish services on a supportable basis.
“I would apply for it for both communities,” Norris said. “After that year, it’s up to the communities to have a sustainability model going forward.”
The Selectboard voted unanimously to authorize the town administrator to sign the necessary documents enabling an application to the efficiencies and regionalization grant program.