The Ulster Town Board last week approved a $1.28 million contract with Empress Ambulance Service to provide ambulance coverage for the towns of Ulster and Kingston, starting March 1. The agreement, which runs from March 1 through December 31 of this year, was finalized during an Ulster Town Board meeting on Thursday, February 6. The contract includes the option for a full-year extension in 2026 under a new rate.
Unanimous decisions haven’t come easily or often lately in the Town of Ulster, but council members aligned behind the need for improved emergency services across the entire municipality.
“I think it’s very important to note that everyone came together realizing the serious nature of this, it didn’t matter their political party, any affiliation, their job title,” said councilman Clayton Van Kleeck, the former deputy supervisor who over the past several months has publicly butted heads with Quigley. “I think it’s a tribute to this town to prove that when something’s important to be done, we figure it out and we work together and we get it done.”
The Town of Kingston’s $100,000 contribution was based on a variety of factors, including their smaller population — 933 compared to 12,660 in the Town of Ulster — and comparatively limited commercial area, both of which likely mean fewer calls.
The contract includes one basic life support (BLS) and one advanced life support (ALS) ambulance, the latter available to stabilize critical patients who may have suffered a cardiac arrest, stroke, acute coronary syndrome, or other life-threatening event.
“Both ambulances will be available solely to the Town of Ulster on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week-365 basis,” said Quigley. “The vehicles will be available for mutual aid to adjacent communities under the terms and conditions of the contract. So if the adjacent community has an ambulance service and they are responding under mutual aid to the Town of Ulster, we will reciprocate.”
The home base for the ambulances has yet to be determined, but given the contractual obligation for Empress to reach 90 percent of calls within eleven minutes and 59 seconds, it’s likely to be as close to the center of the sprawling municipality as possible.
“The Town of Ulster is a very large geographical town ranging all the way down to Eddyville, all the way over to Spring Lake and then all the way up Route 28 to Stony Hollow,” Quigley said. “There’s a lot of ground to cover and we were challenged with setting a response time that would be equitable to all portions of the town, and we think we’ve gotten that.”
The contract requires the transport of patients to the hospital of their choice, including Northern Dutchess in Rhinebeck, but there is no obligation to travel more than 15 miles unless deemed medically necessary by the attending paramedic or physician.
Quigley described the contract with Empress as “formative” and subject to ongoing modifications.
“As Councilman Van Kleeck said to me before the meeting, we will not be in the same place that we are tonight in two years because the situation will change,” noting that Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget plans include addressing what’s been widely described as an EMS crisis.
“They established two separate levels of EMS councils, one at the state level and one at the county level,” Quigley said. “And they are delegating to the counties the responsibility for coordinating EMS services in each of their counties. In addition, there’s language in the budget bill that defines EMS as an essential service and requires the local municipalities, whether they be a town, a city or a village to ensure that there’s adequate service available to its constituencies. So they firmly planted on the back of the town board the financial responsibility for making sure that this happens.”
Town attorney Jason Kovacs, who represents the towns of Ulster, Kingston and Saugerties on the county legislature, said he hoped the agreement might serve as an example to other local communities seeking to improve their EMS options.
“I think the finished product is something that this town can be proud of,” he said. “It’s also an example of inter-municipal cooperation: We’re working with the Town of Kingston. And who’s to say in years to come, we might see other towns join in this effort. But I think this is a very good moment for emergency services in Ulster County.
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