Sligo official: EMS effort a 'waste of time'

SLIGO BOROUGH COUNCIL member Wayne Meier (foreground) voiced his concerns Tuesday night about Clarion County's efforts to create a municipal authority to support local ambulance services.

SLIGO – A recent meeting for Clarion County municipalities concerning efforts to develop an EMS Authority for the region was labeled as a "complete waste of time" by Sligo Borough Council member Wayne Meier during Tuesday night's meeting of the Sligo Borough Council.

"It was a waste of my time, and they don't want to waste my time again like that until they at least get the state representatives and the state senators to attend a meeting along with the rest of the municipalities," said Meier, who attended the recent informational program presented by the Clarion County Department of Public Affairs at the county complex in Shippenville.

"They could barely get over half of the municipalities and townships to show for the meetings," he added.

The proposed authority would possibly allow the establishment of a mandated fee for all municipalities to support EMS services.

"He's going about it all wrong," Meier said about Jeff Smathers, the county's director of Public Safety. "I called him out on it. I said, ‘Jim, you’re not even addressing the issue with the fire companies.’ He said that's four or five years down the road. I said, no, it's not. It's going on right now, and you don't want to admit it, and you’re doing absolutely nothing to address the same situation that your fire companies are in right now."

Meier said some EMS officials say that the problem isn't money; it's the lack of people applying for open positions. Others argue that the low wages make it hard to attract staff.

"There's a whole lot of issues going on here with EMS that are not even being addressed, and I’m tired of wasting my time going to meetings with them and trying to put it back on the communities, when it's not the community's problem, to begin with," Meier said. "They’re quick to push it on us because we’re the scapegoat right now. They don't want to do the hard work and go after the government if Medicare and insurance are not paying up.

"We have a lottery that all that money benefits senior citizens. I can't think of a better way to spend that money out of the lottery that benefits senior citizens than to help reimburse [ambulance services]."

Councilman Don Lawrence recalled a visit from a current county commissioner prior to the recent primary election, and he questioned the candidate about pushing a local increase for EMS. Lawrence said he was told that the commissioners spent some of the COVID money to buy new radios for fire companies.

Lawrence said he also questioned the commissioner on the county's purchase of buildings. He said he was told the building purchases were made so the county doesn't have to pay rent.

"That's why they bought the Sorce building," said Lawrence.

Footbridge Update

The engineering firm HRG is working on designs for a six-foot-wide pedestrian bridge in Sligo, and the company is also checking to see if the project can be advertised with an alternate bid to include a roof on the bridge if funding is sufficient.

Officials said PennDOT believes this is not possible, but it may be possible to bid the project without the roof and to later add a work order if costs are low enough.

Sligo Borough also allocated American Rescue Plan funds to the footbridge project, with officials noting that the borough must be spent the money by Oct. 31, 2026.

Other Business

• The council approved improvements for the Sligo Recreation Center, including replacement of the doorway entering the gymnasium between the two sets of bleachers. Glass Erectors estimated the cost would be $4,755 plus $600 to paint the new entry. Also, Bill Allen will refinish the gym floor during the week of Aug. 21, and pricing could increase by 10 percent.

• The opening week was a big one for the Union COG Pool Park in Sligo, with officiating noting that the hot weather brought in an average of 140 people to the pool each day. They also noted that a leak was repaired in the pool that will help save money on water and chemicals; however, they said there are probably still additional leaks that need addressed.

• In the Sligo Development Council report, it was noted that registration forms were sent to vendors for November's Sligo Homes for the Holidays Craft and Gift show.

• Officials said that 30 sewer customers that are delinquent on payments have been sent letters seeking payment arrangements by June 30. Property liens already exist against seven of these customers.

• The council took action to rescind motions made at the May meeting to approve direct deposit of paychecks. Instead, the borough has initiated a holding week to give the president or vice president three to four days to sign paychecks.

We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!