Queen Anne's County emergency services report federal grant losses, roll out public incident portal and outline case for a seventh ambulance

Queen Anne's County Department of Emergency Services officials told county commissioners that recent federal grant changes have canceled or delayed several planned projects, but that planning and operational work continues, including a new public-facing incident map and a proposed seventh transport unit.

At the April meeting, Lori (Emergency Services grants manager) said a number of federal grant rounds were cut in the prior week. She said only one project — a scoping grant for the “Cloverfield” project — had progressed to the point of expending county funds. "There is only one project... that we've actually expended funds and have not received the reimbursement for," Lori said, adding the county had spent "probably about a hundred and 20 to a hundred and 30 of that" on the Cloverfield scope and had been told the grant had been discontinued.

The grants loss is not yet a county liability for the other programs, staff said. "Everything else is pending and we haven't purchased anything under any of the other grants. So, there's no County commitment to it yet," Lori said. She added county staff will remain on a conference call with the state for more details.

Why it matters: the cuts affect planned hazard mitigation and capital planning, and county officials said they will still pursue reimbursements where directed by the state while also revising local plans and staffing assumptions.

Zach Gerke, EMS chief, summarized operational metrics for calendar year 2024 and described new public tools. He said DES handled 5,193 unique EMS calls in 2024 that resulted in 3,894 transports, with 75% handled by county transport units. "Currently, right now, we are sitting at 13 minutes and 24 seconds" for the 75th-percentile response time, Gerke said, adding the county is considering moving performance targets toward a 90th-percentile benchmark to better reflect suburban call patterns.

Gerke demonstrated a new public portal, qaccitizenconnect.org, which provides an anonymized, gridded map and heat map of incident types and call volumes by fire district. "Anybody in the public can access this website," he said. The portal can filter by department, date range and call type, and it will show heat maps and gridded dots rather than precise addresses to protect privacy, Gerke said.

Staff outlined several planning items in progress: a draft departmental strategic plan that will return to commissioners for approval after the budget cycle, a debris-management plan under review with Public Works, and a county hazard-mitigation plan that staff said is awaiting FEMA's signature after recent agency-level delays.

On equipment and staffing, commissioners asked about the case for a seventh transport unit. Gerke said justifying another transport depends on policy decisions (what percentile goal the county sets) and on support staffing to keep ambulances in service. He said vehicle procurement timelines are long: an ordered transport can take roughly 24 months or more to deliver and staff cautioned supply-chain delays could extend that further. "From the time that we order till the time it's delivered, it's taking approximately 24 months," Gerke said; another staff member predicted delivery could be longer than 36 months for some orders.

Clarifying details from staff: - Cloverfield grant: staff estimated the total grant at about $188,000 and said the county had expended roughly $120,000–$130,000 to date. - Maryland Mesonet weather towers: the county now has two operational stations (Y. Mills and a Stevensville sanitary district site) with a third site proposed in North County (Sellersville). - EMS 2024 statistics: 5,193 unique calls; 3,894 transports; Lyft/lift assists were among the top call types (467 lift assists in 2024); Kent Island and United Communities accounted for 39% of responses by station area. - Transport destinations in 2024: most patients went to Anne Arundel and Queen (Queen Anne's) hospitals, with Easton and Chestertown also frequent destinations; ground transports to Shock Trauma and Christiana were used in select cases.

Staff said additional steps — including staffing support, housing for apparatus, and capital funding — will be required before a seventh unit can be placed in service. Commissioners asked staff to return with strategic-plan guidance tying response-time goals to proposed unit placement and budget impacts.

An immediate operational change available to the public is the qaccitizenconnect.org portal, which staff said will be turned fully live for residents as soon as final checks are complete.

Speakers quoted in this story are officials who spoke at the April meeting and are listed in the meeting record.