LAKEWOOD — The Lakewood Village Board of Trustees approved Monday a videoconferencing resolution. A public hearing was held to consider videoconferencing during public meetings. No one from the public gave any comments during the hearing. Trustee Nancy Jones was absent.

The resolution authorizes members of the board to attend meetings by videoconferncing under extreme circumstances. The resolution also allows for hybrid meetings by requiring “that a minimum number of members are present to fulfill the public body’s quorum requirement in the same physical location or locations where the public can attend.”

The resolution also states that board members are also required to be physically present at meetings “unless such member is unable to be physically present at any meeting location due to extraordinary circumstances including disability, illness, caregiving responsibilities, or any other significant or unexpected factor or event which precludes the member’s physical attendance at such meeting.”

Also any member that attends by videoconference must, except during executive session, be “heard, seen, and identified, while the meeting is being conducted.” Any meeting in which a member attends by videoconference is required to be recorded and posted to lakewoodny.com within five business days and be transcribed upon request. Any member of the public is also allowed to attend and participate in any meeting by videoconference. The village is to create written procedures for videoconferencing.

Meanwhile, in Jamestown, its City Council recently passed a resolution to continue to allow videoconferencing which is part of the city’s charter. Some municipalities have been videoconferencing since the COVID-19 pandemic, and New York State has notified municipalities after the expiration of the emergency order that they would have to enact local laws to be able to continue using videoconferencing.

In other business the board tabled until its Jan. 23 meeting to approve the village’s emergency services billing policy. Trustee Ellen Barnes noted that board needs to confer with its EMS billing attorney, Mark Butler, of Snyder, before approving policy.

In August 2022, the Lakewood Board of Trustees established an EMS department and chose Professional Ambulance Billing of Williamsville to be its EMS billing company. At the board’s Aug. 15, 2022 meeting, Mayor Randy Holcomb said PAB was the best candidate. The contract for billing is through Dec. 31, 2025.

In 2022, during the passage of the state budget, a change was made that allows fire departments to recover the costs associated with providing emergency medical services and ambulance transportation.

The Chautauqua County Legislature recently approved a measure that any remaining fire department or ambulance service that wants the county to take over emergency medical service billing can do so without further approval from elected officials.

Since December, the Lakewood Fire Department continues its compliance with a EMS law. In June 2022, the fire department endorsed the village board to bill for EMS.