DALTON, Mass. — The Board of Water Commissioners delayed deciding whether to participate in a Central Berkshire and the Hill Towns Emergency Medical Services regionalization study. 

 

The study was presented to the board by resident Thomas Irwin, who introduced the opportunity during its meeting in October. 

 

The item was not on the agenda, so the board could not make a decision at the time but expressed that they wanted to see letters of interest from the bordering towns, which were received. 

 

During the board meeting on last week, members voted to wait until they receive input on the matter from its chair, James Driscoll, who was out of town and could not attend the meeting. 

 

At both meetings, Irwin said the state would fully fund this study and that the district would not commit to any future changes. 

 

The study would provide information and be a "very helpful guide" to the future of EMS services. 

 

The study would include the bordering towns of Savoy, Dalton, Hinsdale and Peru, and the Hampshire County town of Middlefield. 

 

Windsor was asked if it wanted to participate in the study but opted out because it was already involved in a separate study with Amherst College. 

 

Windsor didn't want to "confuse the picture by being involved in two studies at the same time," Irwin said. 

 

Although Windsor is not part of the study, Irwin said all of its call data and dispatch data are available through Dalton's dispatch.

 

The state recognizes the need to understand rural EMS systems, so it is allocating money for regionalization studies, he said. 

 

The study would be sponsored by the town of Hinsdale, as the state does not recognize the Dalton Fire District for grant purposes, Irwin said. 

 

If the board approves participating in the study, the University of Massachusetts' Collins Center would apply for the state grant, and if awarded, the center would coordinate the study.  

 

Commissioners reviewed the letters requested during its last meeting. Commissioner Camillus B. Cachat Jr. expressed disappointment that they were from the towns' select boards not the fire departments. 

 

"Nothing against the selectmen, but they don't do the work, and I think there'll be hard feelings if you don't get the fire departments behind you," he said.

 

Commissioner Michael Kubicki said he does not see a reason not to do a study, seeing how it is noncommittal, and will give the district suggestions on ways to improve.

 

"We'll be able to look at what other communities are doing and where there's an overlap in service or whatever. I think it's worth looking at anyways to collect more information,"

 

"Whether we go forward it or not, let's see whether it's worth the effort that's going to be going into this huge task of regionalizing this service."

 

Resident Don Davis said regionalization will be coming whether people believe it or not and Cachat agreed.

 

"[The study is] going to help down the road for us to really look at the big picture and see, eventually, one day, Dalton might be the hub of the hill towns, and we're going to need all the equipment, all the support, and all the top notch stuff we can get," Davis said.

 

"I think the quicker we can take advantage of a free study, is beneficial to all the taxpayers, the community, the fire chief, the paramedics, the ambulance people, just everybody."

 

Charlotte Crane, fire prevention officer and emergency medical technician, recommended that one of the commissioners reach out to the communities' fire chiefs before the next meeting to get a sense of how they feel about the process and restore some of those relationships have had some rocky times recently. 

 

The Peru and Savoy fire chief were present when the board agreed to sign the letter of support and did not object to the study, Irwin said. Middlefield does not have an ambulance service and relies on Dalton and Hinsdale to help meet that need. 

 

Dalton Fire Department made six calls to Middlefield last year, which is a large chuck of its total calls, Irwin said. 

 

"In my communications with each of the communities they have spoken nothing but highly of the Fire Department and their support through all of the challenges so there's no ill feelings, just so you're aware that that's kind of what you're going to meet," Irwin said. 

 

"If there's any concern [from what] I've heard it's that they're a little bit cautious about Dalton just from their experience with the Central Berkshire Regional School District, where we have the largest percentage of voters on that particular committee and many of those smaller towns have felt the weight of our larger voting fraction. But other than that they have they found us to be good neighbors."