BOARDMAN — The Boardman Township Fire Department and Trustees must figure out what comes next after voters on Tuesday rejected a 4.5-mill levy for ambulance services.

The measure, if approved, would have generated $6.1 million per year for five years to support the existing ambulance, which the township bought last year and add two more. It also would have ensured staffing for all three to ensure all three fire stations have an ambulance ready at all times.

“That’s something we’re kind of still working on,” said fire Chief Mark Pitzer. “We put a lot of eggs in this basket. There’s not a lot you can do when you need funding to sustain a service like an ambulance.”

As it stands, Boardman has a contract with Lane LifeTrans to station two ambulances daily in the township. However, those units are not dedicated exclusively to serving Boardman. When Lane receives calls from the other communities it serves across Mahoning and Trumbull counties, the two ambulances will be used to respond to those calls if they are not actively occupied with a call in Boardman.

A report late last week showed that there were more than 270 cases over the past year when Lane did not have an ambulance available for a Boardman call.

A group called Lifesaving Boardman EMS Initiative cited data from the fire department dating to January.

Pitzer said the numbers are correct and do not include incidents in October.

He said that during the past year, his department’s numbers — supported by data provided monthly from Lane — showed there are at least 50 occasions per month when the response time for an ambulance exceeds 10 minutes, and an average of five per month with a response time of 20 minutes or greater.

“When you have someone in cardiac arrest, for every minute that passes, their survival chances diminish by 10%,” he said. “As one of the people responsible for public safety, I take it very seriously. One call missed is one too many. That’s what people expect when they call 911 – that there’s going to be a response.”

Pitzer said that, by comparison, his fire and EMS units can reach a scene within 4.5 minutes on average. But that often requires the use of a fire apparatus, which takes a fire unit off the board if a fire call comes in, something Pitzer said happens often.

He also said that to run the new ambulance — which they bought at Lane’s urging last year, to provide better coverage and support Lane’s units in the township — the department has had to pull firefighters, all trained as EMTs and paramedics, from fire apparatus or cover it with overtime pay. He said both practices are unsustainable.

He said using fire apparatus for medical calls also adds wear and tear to those vehicles, something the department had hoped to be able to eliminate with the passage of the levy.

“The decision has already been made that we cannot run the ambulance with overtime anymore, he said. “It will be hit or miss, depending on our staffing level for the day.”

That means that third ambulance will not be reliably available daily.

Pitzer said the township is working to reassess its plan, which likely will include a future ballot measure.

“We heard the public, and I think it was a situation with a multitude of factors, including the political climate and the revaluation of home values, which in many cases led to increased property taxes,” he said. “I believe people know there is a need. This is still an issue and we’re going to go back to the drawing board. We’ll try to present something more palatable to the community in the future.”

NO HARD FEELINGS

Pitzer said he laments that there has been some degree of discord between the township and Lane during the campaign for the levy.

After all, Lane hired him during a period of unemployment several years ago when the township had to lay him off.

“Joe Lane, I have such admiration for him, he helped me out during a very tumultuous time,” Pitzer said. “So it’s never an attack. It’s not us versus them. They have an insurmountable job to do. That’s just the conundrum we’re in as a public safety entity.”

Pitzer and other township officials have stated that the levy was the last approach they wanted to take. Boardman tried to lead a county-wide initiative to regionalize fire and EMS services, but talks broke down. The same happened when the township attempted to join forces with Canfield’s Cardinal Joint Fire District, a discussion that was extinguished by Canfield earlier this year.

“We can’t give up. People’s lives are just way, way too important to us,” Pitzer said.

That is where he finds frustration with the Lane contract.

“They’ve said there are no problems here and that’s not true. When you hear someone say it’s only 300 times a year, well that’s 300 people,” Pitzer said. “There’s no repercussions because we’re at their mercy, there’s nowhere else for us to go.”

He said the township’s partnership with Lane has mostly been good, but they need to get back on the same page

“We should not be having that type of debate. Lane’s does the best job they possibly can, given the situation everyone in Mahoning Valley is in,” he said.

Pitzer said the problem illustrates why EMS across the country has been taken over by public safety.

“That’s because it is the only way to ensure reliable access to that essential service,” he said.