Meeting to explain need for levy

Staff report

NEWTON FALLS

Richard Bauman, Newton Falls Joint Fire District chief, would like Newton Falls and Newton Township residents to attend a meeting Wednesday to learn why he thinks a levy should go on the November ballot.

It would staff the fire station with emergency medical technicians all day every day, if approved.

Bauman said the fire district provides EMT staffing 80 hours per week but calls out workers from their homes the other 88 hours each week as needed.

Of the 700 to 750 emergency medical-service calls the district responds to annually, about half occur while EMT workers are at the station, Bauman said. The department serves about 10,000 people.

The station is staffed during the day shift from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on midnight shift 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The station is not staffed afternoons and weekends.

Bauman wants to convince the public and members of the district’s board of trustees that having emergency medical technicians at the fire station all day every day is needed.

So far, Bauman said he doesn’t know the millage necessary to provide such service.

What he does know is that for 88 hours per week, on afternoons and weekends, when an EMT call comes into the station, personnel have to come to the station from home before they can respond to the call.

That extra step means it takes extra time for help to arrive, Bauman said. In such situations, EMTs are paid on a per-call basis, Bauman said.

Firefighter-medics are paid $14 per hour, and firefighter-EMTs are paid $11 per hour. All are part-time employees.

Bauman said district board members have told him they want to know that a sizable number of residents want the additional EMT coverage before they will put the measure on the ballot.

The meeting is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the fire station, 19 North Canal St.