East Hampton task force reviews plan to make ambulance association a town department

Chairman Richard Knotek said the Town of East Hampton Ambulance Task Force reviewed a draft report at its March 3 meeting that recommends converting the volunteer ambulance association into a town department and bringing it under the Fire Department to improve oversight and cost control.

The recommendation, read aloud by Knotek, concluded that while an in-house emergency services provider would be cost-efficient in the short term, formally making the ambulance association a municipal department and joining it with the Fire Department would be the town’s preferred option. The draft characterizes a third-party provider as less favorable because the town would have more difficulty monitoring and controlling costs under that arrangement.

Members also raised governance concerns about the current ambulance association board. Task force members said the association should have two voting members on its board, a change they said had been agreed with the previous Town Council but was replaced by a liaison appointment instead. To address transition issues, members suggested scheduling a joint meeting that would include ambulance association leaders, Fire Department representatives and Town Manager David Cox to plan how a conversion could proceed if the town chooses that route.

The task force did not adopt the draft at the meeting; members chose to review the draft further and agreed to finalize a version for referral to the Town Council. The group set its next meeting for March 13 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the final draft.

Votes at a glance - Adopt agenda: Motion by Dale Maynard, second by Patrick Walsh — vote 4-0 in favor. - Approve minutes (Feb. 3, 2025): Motion by Tim Feegel, second by Dale Maynard — vote 4-0 in favor. - Adjourn (7:47 p.m.): Motion by Patrick Walsh, second by Tim Feegel — vote 4-0 in favor.

The task force recorded its minutes as submitted by Recording Clerk Katrina Aligata.