The property at 5862 County Road 32 in Norwich will become the home base for Chenango County Emergency Services upon the county legislature's recent consent to enter a lease agreement. (Photo by Shawn Magrath)

NORWICH – Facing a need for additional space as the department grows, the Chenango County Office of Emergency Services (OES) has been given the nod from county legislators to relocate to a larger space just outside Norwich city limits.

The Chenango County Board of Supervisors on Monday passed a resolution authorizing a lease for office space with 24 34 Property Holding, LLC of Norwich. The office and connected garage consists of nearly 6,000 square feet of space on 5862 County Road 32 in Norwich, near the intersection of State Route 23.

But green-lighting the lease wasn’t without contention of some board members who pushed to seek alternatives to resolve OES’s space dilemma without locking the county into a long-term financial obligation.

“I’m opposed to this resolution. I am not opposed to finding ways to resolve space issues,” said Columbus Town Supervisor Diane Scalzo, citing figures from the county treasury that suggest OES budget shortfalls and reserve withdrawals to balance the books over the next five years. “We don’t want to be Thelma and Louise, petal to the metal over the cliff.”

Scalzo suggested the county hold off on a lease and instead advocate for long-term financial fixes to the newly created county-run EMS service which, she said, presently relies on retaining part-time staff without paying health benefits to those employees. What's more, the county EMS call volume simply isn't there to justify the added expense of a long-term lease agreement, she added.

Scalzo said a better solution is to lobby state and federal reps to recognize EMS as an essential service, and for insurance companies to reimburse EMS service providers directly instead of reimbursing patients.

Nevertheless, County Treasurer Bill Craine, who worked closely with OES on a financial model for the inclusion of ambulance services, says he's “confident with the numbers” that will allow the department to execute a lease agreement.

“We believe that our model holds, that this lease will absorb the model numbers that we put together and we're confident that we will not have to raise local taxes on the model we have now,” said Craine.

County board members voted in favor of a lease agreement with only Scalzo and Smyrna Town Supervisor Michael Khoury opposing it.

OES began looking at lease options earlier this year, with department heads saying the inclusion of ambulance services caused it to outgrow its current location on County Road 46 in the Town of Norwich.

OES Coordinator Matthew Beckwith said the new five-year lease deal would provide enough space for offices, classrooms, equipment, and extra room for storage. It would also allow the department to concurrently run EMS and fire classes – something it’s not able to do in its current location. What's more, the use of office furniture included in the lease agreement would spare his department the expense of buying furniture.

“We're out of space where we currently are,” said Beckwith. “We have storage in three different buildings. Our staff is having to share space, and we have nowhere else to go.”

OES is looking at an annual cost increase compared to the building they now share with the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office. Proprietors are asking $1,512 per square foot for the five-year lease and the same price if the county signs a two-year extension. That price goes up to $1,650 per square foot with a subsequent three-year extension.

OES anticipates moving into its new location by October.