Hardyston to discuss EMS squad report

HARDYSTON — The Hardyston Township Council will meet to discuss a consultant's report on the state of the township First Aid Squad on Wednesday, July 22.

The report is scheduled to be posted to the township's website after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15.

The report was scheduled to be unveiled on Wednesday, July 8, but Township Manager Marianne Smith told the council and residents the report was complete but the expert from Rehberg and Koning was delayed in Florida due to United Airlines' computer problems last week.

In the meantime, many residents asked the council what steps were being taken to rebuild Hardyston's own Emergency Medica Service.

"We are looking for solutions and one thing you have to remember is that the first aid squad was an autonomous body," Township Mayor Carl Miller said. "They are not a body that we can go in and say, 'we are going to revamp the whole squad'.”

Miller said the First Aid Squad exists independently.

“Until that squad disbanded we didn’t have the authority to do anything,” he said.

Miller told the residents that they had public meetings in which the Council asked if people would be interested in volunteering to restart Hardyston’s emergency medical services.

“Our consultant was here along with members of First Aid councils from surrounding areas as well as a state representative,” Miller said.

Smith told the residents contracts with three neighboring agencies — Hamburg, Sparta and Milton — have been in place to provide dependable emergency medical service at least until the end of the 2015. Once this was accomplished, an expert consultant from Rehberg and Konin Group was hired in February of 2014. The firm organized with stakeholders within the emergency medical service community, including the township's previous volunteers, nearby and outside paid agencies to develop a plan

Township officials will send formal invitations to management groups within the township, including the boards of numerous homeowners associations, the Fire Department, representatives from other emergency agencies, and the Board of Education, to offer assistance.

“Armed with the valuable information to be presented within the report, the Township Council and its residents have appropriate tools around which to begin the public process of developing a solution," Smith said.

Officials said, whatever course is taken, resident participation will be important for the initiative to succeed.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. on July 22 at the Municipal Building on Wheatsworth Road. If a larger facility is needed, the meeting will be moved to the Hardyston Middle School.