Regarding response times not being connected to staffing, it would be nice if some statistics were released as part of this. I know for a fact that ambulances are sitting in their stations without staff while calls are going unanswered.

The only thing the proposal adds to the equation is a new bureaucratic agency that will require office staff and a new bureau ‘director’ position, with increased salary requirements. The proposal will not mean a shorter wait for an ambulance to respond, it will only mean an additional bureaucratic burden to the taxpayer. I vote ‘nay’ and it does make me wonder if Mr. Brooks doesn’t “know just the right personnel” to staff this new agency and if they don’t just happen to be family members.

If the County has $4 mill to ‘start’ a new ‘agency/department’, then why not just present the existing VOLUNTEER ambulances services with this windfall, and let them purchase additional ambulances, and staff them with volunteers as has been done successfully for over a century. By undermining the VOLUNTEER aspect of a fire and ambulance company, this proposal undermines the personal involvement of a civic-minded citizen to take an active part in the community in which they reside. The thing that makes a community is the involvement of its citizens, not the response time of a paid employee.