The amendment to an existing Shared Services Agreement between Roselle Park and Union County for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been made public.
The two-page document extends the original agreement signed in 2015 by two years to 2022. There were three other major changes.
The first has the County covering the borough for medical emergency response services 24 hours a day seven days a week. Originally, the County provided services Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m.
The second major change has the borough transfer ownership of its three existing ambulances to the County at no cost to Union County. Licensing, insurance coverage, and other maintenance costs will be the responsibility of the County. It should be noted that one ambulance has not been delivered to the Borough yet. It was approved during last year’s budget and ordered for $210,201 and is in the production stage. According to the borough’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ken Blum, the ambulance is on order and cannot be canceled. A second ambulance had been out-of-service until recently due to repair work being done on it after an accident.
The third change allows use of the current First Aid Squad house located at 535 Laurel Avenue by the County at no cost. There are no conditions nor limitation to the use so it is not clear if the squad house will be used as a response station or if it will be utilized for another use, such as storage or administrative work.
When asked if there was a reason why ambulances were given to the County for free with which they could use for county-wide response, not solely Roselle Park emergency services, and no rent for use of borough-owned property, Mayor Carl Hokanson responded, “No.”
A copy of the amendment and original agreement are included below: