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Otsego County committee approves routine contracts and equipment purchases; EMS billing change OK'd
Summary
The Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee approved payments and contracts including training for a new deputy, a Stop DWI sponsorship, a peer recovery services contract funded by an Oasis grant, several IT and communications purchases, and a reduction in EMS 'treat-no-transport' billing to $150; members also approved a half-year stipend increase for deputy fire coordinators.
The Otsego County Public Safety and Legal Affairs Committee on April 16 approved a series of routine payments, contract awards and equipment purchases and voted to reduce one EMS fee to ease cost burdens on residents.
Mr. O’Brien presented multiple procurement items that the committee approved by roll call: payment of $2,650 for a new deputy’s training at Mohawk Valley Police Academy; a $2,500 county sponsorship for the annual Stop DWI SAD run; and a three‑year peer recovery services contract for jail services totaling $52,133.64 to be paid from Oasis grant funding. The committee confirmed the peer recovery cost is grant-funded and not charged to the sheriff’s operating budget.
The committee also authorized infrastructure and equipment purchases recorded on the meeting record: a firewall upgrade under an Omnia contract (amount read on the record as the digit string “3467851”); award of the Butternuts tower foundation and erection to the low bidder Shoemaker Construction (amount garbled on the record); a three‑year dash‑camera subscription and support plan for dash cams and ambulance cameras at $9,240 annually; purchase of four EMS Toughbooks (amount as read in the record was presented as the digit string “16,77112”); and ABTE radio console upgrades under New York State contract (amount read as “62,98710”). Each of those procurement motions was seconded and carried on recorded roll-call votes.
On EMS billing, Mr. O’Brien said the business office manager recommended reducing the treat‑no‑transport (TNT) fee — billed when EMS treats a patient but does not transport — from $623 to $150 so residents are not discouraged from calling for help. The committee approved revising the TNT fee to $150; Mr. O’Brien said the county recorded about 30 TNT calls last year.
On personnel pay for volunteer fire leadership, Mr. Jones asked to increase the annual stipend for each of four deputy fire coordinators from $1,691 to $5,000 (a total proposed increase of $13,236). County administration advised moving changes through the next year’s budget; the committee instead approved a half‑year payment to partially raise stipends (amended transfer/amount approved on the record as $6,618) with a pledge to revisit the matter during the October budget check‑in.
All procurement and budget motions reported on the transcript passed by roll call. Several amounts and numeric strings in the public record were garbled in the transcript; where the spoken amount was unclear the committee indicated purchasing/administration had vetted the items and that funding sources (grants or equipment lines) would be used as stated.
