Warren County has signed on to a tri-county effort aimed at enhancing emergency medical service responses.

The county commissioners on Wednesday approved an intergovernmental agreement with Erie and Crawford counties to hire a regional manager to oversee a joint EMS response plan.

The idea has been discussed in several different meeting settings in recent months.

Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said the total cost of the position is $71,000. That cost will be split among the counties based on population.

“We have 10 percent of the cost,” he said. “(We) would bear 10 percent of that cost.”

For 2022, that totals $7,100 and American Rescue Plan funding can be used to cover the cost of the program. The agreement approved Wednesday will run for three years.

Public Safety Director Ken McCorrison, speaking on behalf of the COG Fire Services Committee, said the system “really needs a person that is specifically looking at this issue region-wide.”

He explained that there routinely are services from Crawford and Erie counties responding into Warren County.

“I think it’s a really good first step to getting everybody on the same page,” he said. “A lot of our volunteer agencies are having a very difficult time keeping staffed ambulances for calls.”

Kafferlin said multiple studies have looked at the EMS crisis and a coordinator was a common recommendation. He said the county looked at funding such a position on its own or through the EMS Council but the move was cost prohibitive.

With the regional approach “suddenly the price tag gets into the $7,000 to $8,000 range… (and it) feels totally achievable to me at this point,” Kafferlin said. “I would like to give this a go.”

Commissioner Tricia Durbin asked whether someone qualified for the position would be found.

“I think they’ll be able to find someone,” McCorrison said. “In the past, that EMS plan, there was no person overseeing it, no one holding people to the standard of the plan.”

That standard is 24/7, 365 coverage.

“Everyone seems to be in lock step,” he said, in identifying the issues and seeing a need for “drastic” changes.

“I do not think this is the ultimate fix to the EMS problem,” he cautioned.