Town of Harrietstown

OFFICIALS GEAR UP FOR FIRE ADVISORY BOARD MEETING:

Representatives from the village of Saranac Lake, several area towns and the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department met on Wednesday at the Harrietstown Town Hall in an effort to make sure that the newly created fire advisory board gets off to a smooth start when it meets for the first time next week. ... The fire advisory board was a condition of a memorandum of understanding that was included in the fire contract agreed upon between the village and the six towns in January. The MOU states that the board must be in place by March 1. ... The fire advisory board will consist of nine voting members, officials agreed Wednesday. That breaks down to one per municipality, plus two for the fire department. The fire department’s two voting members must include one member of the rescue squad and one from the fire department. Rescue Chief Vernon James and Second Assistant Fire Chief Dave Bickford have already been appointed to those positions.

James suggested the fire department have two members because the rescue and fire squads operate differently and one person wouldn’t be able to answer all the questions.
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In recent years, the village has attempted to move to an assessment-based formula, while the towns have preferred a per-call formula, similar to the one that’s been used in recent years. Although, there have been suggestions made to alter it.

The representatives also agreed to continue to petition state representatives to pass legislation that would allow the fire department to bill for ambulance calls. Currently, municipal law doesn’t allow fire department-based ambulance service to bill for services.