MTEMS Addresses Milford’s Blackmail Claim
Milford Town Council claims they are being blackmailed by Multi-Township EMS, but today the MTEMS board of directors addressed the accusations in their own meeting.
Scott Sigerfoos, MTEMS director of operations, referred to Milford’s public blasting of the EMS organization in their meeting last month saying the town council is making “a lot of false and erroneous” statements.
“They’re saying we demanded all of these things be done to the building even though we have absolutely no intentions of continuing to run out of Milford,” Sigerfoos told his board. “They’re claiming extortion against us, that our only desire is to run out of Leesburg, that we’re blackmailing them by trying to get them to increase their subsidy to come in line with the rest of the townships in our service territory.”
MTEMS is requesting a subsidy of $73,307.13 from the town of Milford for 2013 which reflects a 307 percent increase. The town currently pays $18,000 with the township as a whole paying $33,800.
In a June 22 letter addressed to the town, Sigerfoos said the ambulance service is “ … working diligently to control expenses and provide services” without mandating any increase. In the board meeting today he said, “Our letter didn’t demand the full amount, it just said based off these guidelines this is what your subsidy should be and we need you to take every opportunity to try to come up to that and to let us know what you can do.”
Sigerfoos told his board, “Their whole town board was sitting here when you specifically said it would take a $100,000 increase. The one saying all these things was actually sitting in this room.”
Since last month, Sigerfoos said Milford Town Council members Bob Cockburn, Dan Cochran and Doug Ruch have communicated that they applied for a $20,000 increase in their budget to cover the subsidy.
He added, “We just need to address accusations. Our plan is to get them some time and let the dust settle and then go to the town and address their concerns and remind them this should not be a surprise.”
In the financial report, it was noted MTEMS has a current cash on hand total of $387,966.95. Payroll was up nearly $4,000 over the last two pay periods due to overtime paid as a result of a shortage of paramedics.
The MTEMS board meets at noon the second Wednesday of each month.