Fire, EMS services to Wadsworth Township in jeopardy

WADSWORTH — Fire and EMS services provided by the city of Wadsworth to Wadsworth Township could be in jeopardy unless the two entities reach a new agreement by the end of the year. During a Committee-of-the-Whole meeting Tuesday, city Public Safety Director Matt Hiscock said talks have come to an impasse and that the township has begun contacting other entities who may be able to provide such services. This year, the township paid the city roughly $451,000 for fire and EMS response. A previous contract expired in December 2015 before it was extended into the following year and then renewed for four years, Hiscock said. "We've had several discussion sessions and several negotiations," he said. "There's been an exchange of offers and counterproposals, another offer, and another counterproposal. We have reached impasse at this point and they're exploring alternatives. We've told them we are open and wish to continue to provide the services to the township but we can't do that on the backs of city residents." Hiscock said during those talks, township officials have stated that the city has taken advantage of the township through charging excessive amounts in the contract. He added that the township has scheduled a meeting for this week with the city of Norton to gauge what a contract would entail. "We disagree with that," he said regarding the city taking advantage of the township. "We've provided them with budgetary documentation and service-related discussions. We still believe we're the best-situated agency to provide these services within the township and we want to that. We've kept the door open for negotiations." A formula taking factors such as fixed costs, variable costs, capital assets depreciation, call volume and population is used to calculate how much the township is charged by Wadsworth. "All of our options are open," said Wadsworth Township Trustee Jim Gardner. "We have discussed those options with other jurisdictions and we're going to do what's best for our residents and the township. The numbers and everything else are being handled by our attorneys and I can't comment on that at this time." Switching to a charging model that's based only on the number of calls received or population is not being considered by the city, Hiscock said. "This is essentially some of the argument, the methodology of how charges occur," he said. "A strict per-occurrence or per-population number is the wrong approach for modern fire and EMS provisions. We have costs of providing the service even if there are no calls from the township on a certain day. A pure call or population analysis doesn't take those fixed costs into consideration." If the contract expires without the township finding a new service provider, emergency calls not made through a landline will be forwarded to the Medina County Sheriff's Office. Response from the city will cease immediately on the contract's Dec. 31 expiration date and the city will not continue services on a per-call charge basis after that time, Hiscock said. "The township trustees have a legal obligation to provide that coverage," he said. "We won't even receive the 911 call after the contract expires if it's through a cell phone. It will go to the sheriff's office." Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at 330-721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.