Hurley hopes to have its paid ambulance service up and running by the first of the year. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to be completely rolled out. We’ll have a transition,” said councilmember Debbie Dougherty.
Dougherty expressed the urgency of starting the service as soon as possible to replace the all-volunteer ambulance staff. A few weeks ago, nobody responded to a call, and second and third calls went out.
After a fifteen-minute delay, the call had to be given to mutual aid from another community. “There was nobody around us,” Dougherty said. “A lot of them have the same issues with staff.”
Only part of the service will be funded by taxes. The rest will come from insurance providers and supplemented by fundraising, startup and operational grants.
“There’s a whole litany of deliverables that we’re going to work on throughout the rest of this quarter so that we can get organized,” Dougherty said. “If we haven’t provided the information to [the state office of] Real Property Tax by a certain date, I believe it’s this November, then we can’t have the tax base in place in order to roll this out next year.”
If the tax information is not ready by November, Hurley would have to wait an additional year to collect the taxes for the ambulance district.
The town board unanimously approved the preparation of a map, plan and report for the establishment of an ambulance district to be presented at its September 10 meeting.
The board unanimously voted to appoint West Hurley Fire Department EMS captain Kent Fitzgerald as EMS operations manager for the new ambulance district from September 1 through December 31. He will be paid $11,400 for that time, or $2850 per month.
New highway garage
The town board approved work to begin a legal maneuver necessary to build a new highway garage on eight acres of town-owned property on Dug Hill Road. Since the proposed location is on town parkland, Hurley must engage in a process called alienation, which involves state legislation to remove the park designation.
Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha and state senator Michelle Hinchey will introduce the legislation in January.
The town has agreed to swap adjacent land to make up for the acreage taken by the proposed garage.
Rail-trail kiosk
The board voted unanimously to pay for replacement of three rail-trail kiosks on the rail-trail along Route 209, but only if it gets half its money back.
The town has applied for a grant to replace the kiosks on the rail-trail along Route 209, but it is only eligible for the grant if it agrees to pay the $6900 cost upfront. A Hudson Valley Greenway grant would cover half that cost, or $3450. The town will front the funds only if the grant is approved.
Hurley resident Vincent Nugent commended the town for seeking funding to improve the rail-trail, but said he was dismayed by the plans to replace the existing kiosks.
“My son built those with a crew of scouts and volunteers 18 years ago for an Eagle Scout project, and we were under the understanding the town was going to maintain them,” Nugent said. “I agree it needs a good coat of stain and probably new shingles, but I don’t understand the reason for tearing them down. In a town that prides itself in historical preservation and refurbishment and a town that is looking to have a greener environment, it seems unwise to tear these down, not refurbish them, and then put more pressure-treated lumber into the waste stream.”
Newer kiosks, he said, were “not going to have the same soul as something that exists.”
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