As you may remember, Christine Trafficante and I started this ball rolling in July of 2021 -- more than two years ago, with this petition for Simsbury Ambulance (the "Volunteer" part is only about 10% of their hours) to staff two ambulances 24/7. The incredible difficulty in making any progress at all is demonstrated by the capitulations that SAA got from the Town from the Initial Draft to the Updated Draft of a new Agreement to be discussed at the Monday, September 11 Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting.
At least half of the people working this on the Town and BOS side are scheduled to depart this year. So the can was successfully kicked down the road once again, while two new Assistant Chiefs were added at SAA, all without ensuring any service level, while the Town guarantees $150k additional to SAA. That $150k guarantee is rock solid as opposed to the rest of the "agreement".
From the initial to the updated draft of the new agreement between the Town and SAA, ALL of the following were removed by SAA and so far appeased by the town: 2 Board of Selectman Appointments to the SAA Board, Simsbury Town Staff Access to SAA, Performance Measurements, Annual Review, Financial Disclosures, and PSAP Transfer. What's even left you might ask?
Well the Updated (and Initial) Drafts only state that "The second response unit shall be staffed from 0700 to 1900 hours daily, unless call volume analysis indicates a need for schedule modifications, at the discretion of SVAA." So the second unit shall be staffed -- Unless SAA decides not to. That's not much of a commitment. I'm sure that the great majority of kids would love house rules like that!!
In closing we remind you that you, your children, your parents, are all subject to Simsbury Ambulance's response time. It is quite literally a matter of life and death, and/or serious injury/handicap that could be prevented if treated in time. The 32 minutes that Christine waited for an ambulance for her daughter is not going to help at all, much like the current state of this "agreement".