A Chautauqua County EMS sport utility vehicle is pictured last year outside the Falconer Fire Department. The village is looking at finding a new company to handle billing for emergency medical services provided by the Falconer Fire Department. P-J file photo

FALCONER — Unhappy after a year-long partnership with Chautauqua County, the village is looking at finding a new company to handle its billing for emergency medical services provided by the Falconer Fire Department.

Mayor James Jaroszynski, on the advice of the village’s Fire Advisory Board, told trustees Monday that a new billing company is being sought.

“The reason is with the county, it’s been just inadequate follow up from them on the billing, the monthly billings that are submitted and the disbursements back to the village,” he said.

Trustee Anthony Cavallaro, who heads the board’s Public Safety Committee, put it more bluntly: “They haven’t lived up to their end of the contract at all.”

Falconer had become one of the first fire departments locally to essentially bill for EMS provided by volunteers. Early last year, the village partnered with Chautauqua County EMS, allowing the fire department to operate under the county’s Certificate of Need.

At the time, the partnership was viewed as being mutually beneficial.

“(Falconer) is still their own agency,” county Emergency Services Director Noel Guttman said in February 2022. “They’ll have their own ambulance but they will be working under our (Certificate of Need), and we will basically be doing a profit sharing of the billing. That will allow Falconer to recover some of their costs for providing an EMS service while allowing Chautauqua County to share those profits as well.”

The agreement was made just prior to a bill — the EMS Cost Recovery Act — being tucked into the 2022 state budget. Later signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the law allows volunteer fire departments to recover costs associated with providing EMS, including ambulance transportation.

A host of local fire departments that provide EMS opted to handle its own billing, either in-house or through an outside company. Others have gone with the county to handle the billing.

Falconer had indicated a desire to use the funds it received through the billing agreement toward the purchase of its 2018 Ford ambulance that was put into service in May 2019. Department members recently voted to pay off the remaining balance of the ambulance’s purchase.

On Monday, Jaroszynski did not indicate when the village may make the switch to a new billing company. “We initially went with Chautauqua County, but they’re not fulfilling their end,” he said.

Falconer handles its fair share of EMS calls. According to information shared Monday by Chief Bryce Webster, the fire department has had 43 calls for EMS this year through Feb. 5.

In other Village Board business:

¯ Paul Andalora, village code enforcement officer, said the owner of an East Pearl Street home that was heavily damaged in an early March 2020 fire has completed the necessary paperwork to have the property demolished. He expects the home to come down sometime in March of this year.

Andalora said Hanson Sign Co. is fabricating and installing a new sign in front of its building on Carter Street.

He also said a multi-family home on North Work Street, the site of a major fire last July, continues to undergo rehabilitation. “It’s a nice little project,” Andalora said. “I’d like to see more of those kinds of rehabs here in the village.”

¯ With funding help from Cummins Inc., Falconer Public Library is looking to complete a refurbishment to the young adult area. In addition, the library will host an “escape room” on March 17 to encourage area middle- and high-school students to come to the facility.

¯ Trustee Annette Miller, speaking for the Parks and Recreation Committee, said an alternate location for a possible dog park is still being reviewed. The Village Board recently decided not to move forward with a plan to establish a dog park in Falconer Village Park.

Miller said no particular area has been considered.