The City of Warren “has a path” to no longer send EMS resources outside the city limits.

That’s according to a reply the city received from the state Bureau of EMS, Department of Health. While that path exists, the state was critical of the city’s attempt to withdraw “responsibilities that it previously agreed to.”

Two letters were sent to municipal officials back in May — one from City Manager Nancy Freenock and another drafted by legal counsel — that would petition the state to no longer require the city to respond with its ambulance outside the city.

The response from the state Bureau of EMS was issued to legal counsel. It was provided to the Times Observer by the Department of Health.

Supervisors in Brokenstraw, Conewango, Glade, Mead, Pine Grove, Pleasant, Sheffield and Youngsville were sent the letters.

At issue, fundamentally, is the increase in ambulance calls the city has fielded as a result of volunteers in the surrounding municipalities being unable to provide 24/7 coverage.

“(T)he taxpayers of the City of Warren are subsidizing a necessary public safety service which your municipality is statutorily obligated to provide. This places an unjust and unfair burden on the taxpayers of the City for which no reciprocal benefit is received,” Freenock’s letter states.

The second letter, addressed to the state Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, asked that the Warren Fire Department not be required to respond to PSAP (911 center) dispatches for emergency basic life support (BLS) ambulance services to locations outside the City of Warren.

The bureau, in its response, concluded that it isn’t the appropriate entity to field such a request, deferring to the plan administrator for the county’s collaborative EMS response plan that was approved in 2016.

They write that the state doesn’t “mandate that a particular entity agree to cover set geographic areas” and that an agency can “revise the scope of its EMS agency license with the Department if it no longer wishes to serve a particular municipality.”

By not responding outside the city, the city would effectively be dumping the response plan. The state’s response was critical of that move.

“(T)he City of Warren, by voluntarily participating in the Warren County Collaborative EMS Response Plan, hereafter referred to as ‘the plan,’ took on additional responsibilities pertaining to EMS responses within the County of Warren outside of the city limits.”

The state acknowledges that the “demand for EMS” has increased “and the operational paradigm in Warren County has changed” but assert that “those factors alone do not relieve the City of Warren of carrying out responsibilities that it previously agreed to.”

The state recommended that “regular plan maintenance and review” is “important considering changing circumstances.” They further argue that since the plan includes procedures for amendment “it is inappropriate to force open an approved plan at the request of a single plan member.”

They assert that “the City of Warren’s participation in the plan created an expectation of an available licensed service to other municipalities within Warren County.”

The letter outlines how the city could “limit the provisions of service to jurisdictions outside of the city limits.” That would include written notice to the plan administrator in order to withdraw from the plan.

The plan administrator, according to county officials, is an elected plan member elected by the other plan members.

Procedures also exist, they note, to allow the city to “discontinue or reduce services to these areas” outside of the scope of the response plan – 90 day notice to the Department of Health, notification to each municipality and a requirement that the city “publish its intent to discontinue services outside of the city limits” in a newspaper.

The state warns that discontinuing service without completing those steps may make the city “subject to disciplinary action” by the Department of Health.

“The Bureau,” the letter concludes, “continues to hope for a local solution amongst the relevant community partners to ensure the health and safety of all residents of Warren County.

“(T)he City of Warren has a path to its request without formal regulatory relief from the Department.”