Forest County commissioners discussed a variety of matters at their meeting Wednesday, including the county-owned ambulance on the east side of the county currently in the possession of the Forest EMS Authority.
If the Forest EMS Authority goes defunct, the ambulance will be returned to the county, commissioner Bob Snyder said.
At this point, the Forest EMS Authority hasn’t been dissolved and the board is looking for a way forward, Snyder said.
Since then, several board members have resigned from the authority and the fee has been rescinded, leaving the future of the EMS authority in question.
A meeting of the Forest EMS Authority will be held at 5 p.m. today at the Farmington Township social hall in Leeper.
The ambulance for the eastern side of the county was delivered in July, and in September the newly formed Forest EMS Authority took possession of the vehicle.
Per grant requirements, Forest County has retained ownership of the ambulance, the commissioners have said previously.
In other business at Wednesday’s meeting, Ken Butler, one of the organizers of the annual Firefly Festival in the county, told the commissioners the county could benefit from promoting itself as a destination for eco tourism.
Currently, Butler said, Bucknell has been supporting the Firefly Festival with interns.
In another matter, Snyder said the county sheriff’s office and probation department have received new radios that now must be programmed before they can be used.
The new radios will allow for direct communication with Warren County and provide a measure of safety to the deputies and probation officers, Snyder said.
And Snyder also said the county has received $169,000 in opioid settlement money that has come to every county in the state, but the state took a while to provide guidelines on what the money was allowed to be spent for.
At this point, the county is working on getting together a resolution to create a board tasked with figuring out what the priorities should be for the money, he added.
All three commissioners attended the County Commissioners of Pennsylvania’s annual conference in Harrisburg last week, and they said the event was helpful.
New commissioner Patrick Kline said it was a “wonderful experience” and he is looking forward to going to Gettysburg for next year’s conference.