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ALLENTOWN • MILLSTONE TOWNSHIP • UPPER FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP EXAMINER

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 njexaminer.com

PHOTOS BY KIRSTIN JAKOBER

Nature and serenity are refl ected in photographs taken by Kirstin Jakober, 19, of Allentown, along Indian Run, which is also known as the Stein property, between Upper Freehold Township and Robbinsville on the afternoon of Sept. 2.

Millstone agreement will fund emergency services operation

By MATTHEW SOCKOL

Staff Writer

Ashared services agreement between Millstone Township and the Millstone Township Board of Fire Commissioners has been authorized by the Township Committee to implement a municipally funded emergency medical services (EMS) operation.

During a meeting on Aug. 19, committee members authorized the agreement between the township and the fi re commissioners, who are in charge of the Millstone Township Fire District.

The Millstone Township Fire District operates the Millstone Township Fire Company.

In June, municipal offi cials revealed their plan for an EMS operation funded by the municipality. They said $260,000 had been allocated for the service in the 2020 budget.

The $260,000 cost includes $200,000 for an additional contribution to the fi re company, $10,000 for a down payment on an ambulance and $50,000 for other capital items.

Municipal offi cials said they needed a plan to provide residents with timely and affordable emergency medical services. Millstone Township had an estimated population of 10,400 residents in 2019.

“Once performed on a volunteer basis, EMS now needs to be funded by the municipality to ensure our citizens are receiving the care and attention they need, when they need it most,” Business Administrator Kevin Abernethy said in June.

“An outsourced service was being used to perform this service in 2019. The service that performed the function in 2019 has increased prices to a point where the municipality cannot afford to continue with the contract and, more importantly, the service provided to citizens was lacking in timeliness and quality of service.

“We were paying about $9,000 a month and the provider collected the billable (services). The (provider) proposed to increase the fee to $44,000 a month and obviously, that is not a sustainable number,” Abernethy said.

According to municipal offi cials, the advantages of the shared services agreement with the fi re commissioners will be direct management, the ability to better control and forecast costs, timeliness and consistency in service, stability, increased community involvement and controlling costs for taxpayers.

The initiation of the agreement with the fi re commissioners followed a decrease in personnel in the volunteer Millstone Township First Aid Squad. The decrease had been acknowledged by the Township Committee since 2016, when the fi rst aid squad entered into a contract for ambulance services.

The fi re company which is overseen by the fi re commissioners is comprised of volunteers and paid professionals.

Committeeman Michael Kuczinski said different vendors had been used for fi rst aid services during the past few years.

“We were in a position where we have been, due to demographics and the changing of the way people did things 20 years ago, limited as far as our options in using a