Village sets public hearing for Oct. 26; COVA officials say they are running out of money

Photo by Tom Rivers: COVA treasurer Anna Tower, right, and Brandi Fisher, COVA’s chief financial officer and an EMT, speak at Wednesday’s Village Board meeting about the financial challenges facing the agency.

ALBION – The Albion Village Board wants to direct some of its federal ARPA money to keep COVA afloat as a local ambulance provider.

The village has $172,000 left in in its allotment for federal American Rescue Plan Act funds and village department heads have all submitted proposals for spending that money.

But the board is putting off those department heads proposals while COVA is struggling and near closing.

COVA said it has been operating a deficit in recent years – $161,000 in 2019 and $172,000 in 2020. It has used up its reserves and accumulated $70,000 in unpaid bills, while struggling to make payroll.

Trustee Chris Barry suggested the village use $16,000 a month for COVA from the ARPA funds to help the ambulance provider while a longer-term funding arrangement can be worked out. COVA has suggested a taxing district or ambulance service contracts with the towns of Albion, Barre, Gaines and Carlton, COVA’s direct service area.

The village couldn’t just approve the $16,000 on Wednesday, Village Attorney John Gavenda advised. The board needs to give notice of a public hearing about the issue so residents can provide input about the new ambulance contract that would give at least one ambulance priority for village residents. The hearing was set for 6 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Village Office.

The Village Board has stayed out of the issue because village residents are either in the towns of Albion and Gaines and the Village Board said the village residents would be “double taxed” if the village paid money to COVA and then village residents paid again through the towns.

But an agreement hasn’t been reached with the towns, and COVA said it is nearing closure. It no longer has overnight staffing.

Village Trustee Joyce Riley said she was concerned about the village funding being used without a solid plan to keep COVA going strong long into the future.

“The ARPA money isn’t a permanent solution,” she said. “It’s a temporary fix.”

COVA leaders spoke at the Village Board meeting. They said COVA has seen a rise in patients on Medicaid or Medicare and those reimbursement rates are far below COVA’s costs. The agency has seen its expenses rise with the costs of fuel, medications and equipment.

Brandi Fisher, COVA’s chief financial officer, said COVA has tried for four years to make the local government leaders aware of the fiscal challenges of the agency. COVA has pushed for a contract or taxing district with the central Orleans towns. If those four towns contributed $200,000 a year in a contract that would keep COVA viable, Fisher said.

Laurie Schwab, COVA’s chief operations officer, said COVA hasn’t received any of the federal Covid relief money that went to local governments even though COVA medics and staff were on the front lines of the Covid pandemic, going inside houses and helping people who were sick.

“We were your response,” Schwab said. “We saved lives.”

COVA leaders thanked the Village Board for working towards a contract, but they said they were worried they were running out of time.

Editor’s Note: The following statement was sent by the town supervisors in Albion, Barre, Gaines and Carlton. They are in central Orleans which is the service area for COVA Ambulance. The supervisors include Richard Remley of Albion, Sean Pogue of Barre, Tyler Allport of Gaines and Gayle Ashbery of Carlton.

“The towns of Carlton, Gaines, Albion and Barre, in conjunction with the county-wide EMS Task Force, have been working on ways to find solutions to our ambulance coverage and funding issues.

“While no definite conclusion has been reached, we are exploring many viable solutions for our respective towns. We fully realize the importance of 24/7 emergency coverage and we are striving to ensure that remains the standard in our communities.

“Please be assured that there are mutual aid plans in place at the county and state levels to ensure that none of the towns will go without ambulance service.

“It is also important to note that there are no easy, free solutions to these problems. We are, however, striving to find the most cost-effective way forward while providing the widest possible range of services.”

COVA asks community to sign petition for taxing district

Editor’s Note: Jennfer Stilwell. President of the COVA board of directors, sent a letter to the editor to the Orleans Hub today, urging community support for a taxing district in the fur towns that she said would cost an average of $43 annually per year.

COVA has stopped overnight staffing as it faces a fiscal crisis and needs $150,000 to stave off closing before Jan. 1.

“In a last-ditch effort our community has come to us with petitions for our towns to get us a tax district. The outpouring from local residents has kept us going and we are grateful for this last effort you have asked for,” Stilwell wrote.

The petitions are at the Olde Dogge Inn in Gaines, at Toyz n Kandy in Albion, the COVA base in Albion, Gilligan’s Galley in Carlton. Or call COVA at 585-589-4163 for information on how to get access to a petition.

“We have one week to get as many signatures as possible,” Stilwell wrote. “We also encourage everyone who is concerned to go to your town meetings in October and voice your concern and support to get us a tax district. This would raise your taxes approximately $43 per year or less per household. That is not per person! That is per taxed household! A very small price to pay for the security of your community-based ambulance.”

Provided photos

ALBION – The youth football teams from Albion and Akron rallied in support of Maddox Pearl, 5, and his family on Saturday when Bullard Park hosted four football games at the beginner, mini, JV and varsity levels.

The top photo shows Maddox Pearl with his parents, Katelyn and Ryan Pearl, at the coin toss before the game.

The Albion AYSAP organization sold these T-shirts for $15 to raise money for the family.

The Akron players wore stickers on the their helmets in a show of support for Maddox. Pictured is Akron coach Sean Luck with some of his players.

The Akron players signed a poster and presented it to Maddox and his family.

The new scoreboard at the field was temporarily named “Maddox Field” for the games on Saturday.

Hensley Allport sells shirts and 50/50 tickets for the benefit for Maddox and his family.

Provided photo

ALBION – The new scoreboard has been installed and is in use for the Albion youth football games at Bullard Park.

Players, cheerleaders and coaches recently gathered for a photo with a representative from the Burger King in Albion. Mark Cammilleri, owner of the local Burger King, covered the cost of purchasing the scoreboard. Shelby Hollenbeck, a Burger King employee, joined the AYSAP group for a photo celebrating the new scoreboard which was installed by the Village of Albion Department of Public Works.

“The ability to have the scoreboard is huge for our organization,” said Geno Allport, the AYSAP commissioner for Albion. “Instead of having to worry about the officials keeping the time on the field and having people wonder what’s the score, quarter and time remaining. Mark and Albion Burger King have relieved a lot of stress from our organization.”

The Albion youth teams will have home games on Saturday at Bullard and they will be selling T-shirts in support of Maddox Pearl, a 5-year-old Albion boy who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Proceeds will go to Maddox’s family.

Press Release, Albion Police Chief David Mogle

ALBION – On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Albion Police Department will be conducting a Child Safety Seat Check Event in the Save-A-Lot parking lot located at 320 West Ave.

This event is being conducted for Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week, which is currently taking place from September 18-24.

This Check Event, which is sponsored by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and the Albion Central School District, will allow parents and guardians to have their child seats inspected by a Child Safety Seat Technician. The technicians will determine if the child safety seat will provide adequate protection for the child or if a new child safety seat is needed.

Child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71% when used correctly. However, misuse reduces effectiveness. More than 90% of child safety seats are used improperly.

The Albion Police Department will continue to address this issue by participating in the New York State Child Passenger Safety Grant Program and conduct Safety Seat Inspection Checks.

Residents may call the Albion Police Department anytime at (585) 589-5627 in order to schedule an individual appointment to have their child safety seat inspected.

Press Release, Community Coalition for Justice

ALBION – As part of our ongoing discussion about racism and the division in this country, the Community Coalition for Justice brings a presentation entitled “Teaching U.S. History & Unpacking The Terms ‘Woke’ And ‘Critical Race Theory’” on Monday, Oct. 10, (Columbus Day) at Hoag Library from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided.

This presentation will include the showing of W. Kamau Bell’s “United Shades of America” on a July 7, 2022 episode entitled “The Woke War” and an interactive discussion lead by a panel of responders.

Kamau Bell has hosted the CNN series “United Shades of America” since 2016. Known as a comedian and political commentator, Bell tackles many very relevant and controversial issues around the country. In this episode, he travels to Arizona and “talks with parents and educators to hear both sides of CRT” and how it relates to the education of our youth.

The Community Coalition for Justice includes the Hoag Library, Albion Betterment Committee, Pullman Universalist Church, People Embracing Diversity and the Social Justice Committee.

The Coalition’s Co-chair Bob Golden also will be presented with an Orleans Hub “outstanding citizen” award for his efforts facilitating the discussions.

Photo by Tom Rivers: COVA has run an ambulance service in Central Orleans County since 1979.

ALBION – COVA Ambulance announced this evening that it will no longer provide overnight ambulance services starting this Sunday.

The organization has been operating at a deficit, and has been seeking help from local municipalities to stay afloat. Jennifer Stilwell, COVA president, said the central Orleans towns have told them that the municipalities can’t “gift” COVA any money. COVA leaders are hopeful the money can be presented not as a gift but in a way to keep a critical local service.

Stilwell said the county told COVA it can’t give the organization any funding and it’s up to the four towns – Albion, Barre, Gaines and Carlton – to try to help.

COVA issued the following public notice:

“We are saddened to announce that as of this Sunday 09/18/2022 we are forced to implement a disruption of service. We can no longer afford to operate ambulance services from the hours of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Monday through Sunday and we will begin to attempt to utilize a rotating schedule with our partnered EMS Agency Hamlin EMS to provide ambulance coverage if available to the central parts of Orleans County.

“Despite our best efforts we have still been unable to secure municipal funding to help offset our current budget deficit. The financial burden that is upon us has stretched our annual budget beyond capacity.

“For the past three years we have maintained ambulance services covering 96% of the medical emergency calls in the central part of Orleans County. Throughout this period, we have begged for help from our local leadership.

“We have had to make payroll cuts, staff cuts, set up lease programs as well as implemented numerous operational budget cuts to reduce budget expenses. We struggle to continue to maintain operations with the outstanding patient bills and continuous decrease in health insurance reimbursement rates along with the increasing cost of medical supplies, insurance, fuel, utilities and so much more.

“We have been encouraged by the outpouring of community support and are hopeful that we will somehow find a resolution.

“Please take notice that COVA Ambulance will not be operating from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Sunday and we will begin to attempt to utilize a rotating schedule with our partnered EMS Agency Hamlin EMS to provide ambulance coverage if available to the central parts of Orleans County.”

– Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance “COVA”

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion Rotary Club today presented a ceremonial check for $6,300 to the Office for the Aging to support a transportation program for senior citizens.

The tournament was held on July 28 at Shelridge Country Club in Medina.

Pictured from left include Becky Karls, Rotary Club member and OFA employee; Melissa Blanar, OFA director; and Cindy Perry, Rotary Club member. Karls and Perry also were the main organizers of the annual tournament.

The funds will support a volunteer transportation program that was started in 2019 by the OFA. That program sees more demand since Community Action ended a transportation program on Sept. 1, 2021 for senior citizens citing a deficit with CATS. Community Action would take local seniors to appointments, including to see doctors out of county.

The volunteers take people to appointments in Orleans County and surrounding counties. There are about a dozen volunteer drivers and they can do in-county only rides if they prefer and be as available as they want, Blanar said.

The funds from the golf tournament will help pay for mileage for the drivers, and a software program that assists the OFA with scheduling appointments. If there are any leftover funds, Blanar said it would be used for emergency food for senior citizens.

She welcomes more volunteer drivers for the program, which helps adults over age 60.

The drivers take people to medical appointments, grocery stores, nursing homes to visit loved ones and other appointments.

If volunteers aren’t available, OFA has a contract with Medina Transport Taxi.

Some seniors also use the RTS public transportation but that agency is often locked into a schedule and it can be difficult to link up with other buses for trips out of county.

For more information about the volunteer program, either as a driver or rider, contact the OFA at (585) 589-3191.

Blanar said many of the volunteer drivers have become friends with the senior citizens getting rides.

“There have been some great relationships created,” she said. “It’s a great program and we want to keep it going.”