Washington Township supervisors discuss lease of building
WASHINGTON TWP. – On Wednesday, the Washington Township supervisors heard a proposal from Joe Grata, a local resident who has worked to facilitate an agreement between the township and Rostraver West Newton Emergency Management Services, for use of the former CAS (Community Ambulance Service) building that is currently owned by the township. Since the township has been receiving service from Rostraver-West Newton EMS for the past four years, Grata, who previously served as CAS president, said he thought it was best to create a more permanent status for the company in the township. Grata asked the board to consider giving the emergency management service a ten-year lease, but the public seemed to think that giving anyone such a long-term lease was a bad idea.
Grata said he felt the use of the CAS facility for any other purpose but emergency management would “violate the spirit and will of the people,” because they would not be getting the benefit of having an ambulance service in close proximity.
He said a ten-year lease would provide the township with “uninterrupted emergency medical services with a qualified provider, a neighbor, and a peer with whom Community Ambulance Service Inc. engaged in mutual aid for many years.”
Grata’s proposal called for the building to be leased for one dollar per year, since the tenants would be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the building and property, except for snow removal. The company would also have the option of three five-year extensions.
Local resident Arnold Dull said that he didn’t think a ten-year lease was necessary, and should there be problems with the Rostraver-West Newton EMS in the future, the long lease would only be a problem. He asked why the building could not be leased to the company on a year-to-year basis.
“That would not prevent them from providing the services requested,” said Dull. “It’s no problem to renew a lease each year, but if there were problems with the company, and ten-year lease would be hard to get out of.”
Grata pointed out that the company has already been using the building and providing service to the area, and they took it upon themselves to install a new heating and air conditioning unit in the building.
“They would not have done that if they weren’t planning on staying here long term,” said Grata.
Dull still said that it would be hard to find any other municipality that would provide a building with a four bay garage for one dollar per year.
Local resident Kyle Miller said that he also believed that the lease should be on an annual basis, since the ambulance service would stay anyway if they offered quality service.
“I just want a lease that shows that there is some permanency here so that they can do some long-range planning,” said Grata.
Rostraver West Newton EMS board president Jan Merlino said his company wants to remain part of the community on a long-term basis.
“It’s kind of a trust on both sides,” said Merlino. “We’re not going anywhere and we want to put some money into this building.”‘
Merlino responded to complaints that one dollar per year for the lease was not nearly enough by explaining that it does cost money to maintain an emergency management facility, and many of the services they do provide are free of charge, such as assisting the fire department with fires or accidents.
“The only time there is a charge is when we take you to the hospital,” said Merlino.
Grata also told the public that the average response time in Washington Township was six minutes, thanks to the local facility being available for the ambulance. He pointed out that there are terms under which a long-term lease could be canceled if necessary.
The supervisors agreed to review the lease proposal and come back with a decision at next month’s meeting.
“I think all three supervisors and the solicitor need to review the agreement,” said Supervisor Joann Latkanich, adding that they should make a decision after hearing the recommendations of their solicitor.
In another matter, Dull questioned the board about their reorganization meeting, saying that when he listened to January’s meeting on tape, he realized that the board appointed its members to various positions without taking a vote.
“You need an affirmative vote from the majority of the entire board and you did not do that at the January meeting,” said Dull. “It seems that some of these appointments are invalid because you didn’t vote on them. “
Dull said that certain board members had been getting paid for doing jobs that they had not been legally appointed to do.
Chairman John Yetsconish said the board and the solicitor would have to review the minutes to find out if they had mistakenly forgotten to vote. Solicitor Simon John said he would also review the minutes and determine what the supervisors would have to do to correct the mistake, and if those working for the township “on good faith” were right to be paid, even though the board did not vote.