Improved communication between the Chugiak Volunteer and Anchorage fire departments is helping the agencies address long-standing and newly developed operational concerns said department spokespersons.
The CVFD recently posed concerns to the Municipality of Anchorage about an inexplicably dwindling fund balance, ambulance transport fees, property ownership and maintenance, among other concerns, said CVFD Chief Bruce Bartley. Recent meetings between the two agencies and the municipality answer some but not aall of those questions.
"There's just a cornucopia of issues," said Denis LeBlanc, Anchorage city manager. "So what we've been intent on is quieting the rumors and laying out the facts."
Many of the questions being analyzed stemmed back to the CVFD's shrinking fund reserve.
"What we were seeing with these new and inexplicable intergovernmental charges was that, basically, there was no surplus there, but our spending pattern didn't seem any different for us than it had been in years," Bartley said.
One major discrepancy in the fund balance was attributed to a $19,000 snowplow contract that the CVFD was being charged and an additional $52,000 to administer, Bartley said. The AFD and CVFD agreed to drop the contract. Further analysis of the fund balance is being conducted.
Although additional examination of the fund balance is necessary, the agencies were able to come to an understanding concerning which departments own CVFD-manned fire stations.
According to Bartley, research has determined that while Stations 34 and 35 are leased properties, the CVFD owns Station 32, the AFD owns Station 33 and both agencies own portions of Latimer Station (Station 31) located on the Old Glenn Highway in Chugiak.
"We'll be looking into if we can legally transfer ownership (of Station 31)," LeBlanc said. "If it's owned by the municipality, it's been paid for by taxpayers, so we have to be careful that we don't give away assets."
The ownership of the buildings has been a longtime source of debate between the CVFD and the AFD that has now been put to rest. Yet questions still remain regarding the transportation of patients in municipally-owned ambulances manned by volunteer CVFD EMTs, Bartley said.
"There certainly is an in-kind contribution performed by the volunteers that needs to be recognized," Bartley said.
Further discussions and fee comparisons are being directed toward recognizing the contributions of the volunteers to reduce ambulance fees, although they are not likely to cease all together, Bartley said.
Also, additional questions have been raised as to whether or not patients can be transported by ambulance to the new Valley Hospital from the Chugiak area, which in many cases is closer to the Valley than it is to Anchorage hospitals, LeBlanc said.
"We want to be sure that when the new Valley Hospital opens that volunteers can legally transport patients there," said Anchorage Assemblywoman Debbie Ossiander. As of now, departments cannot "legally take equipment out of the municipality unless it's under some special circumstance."
LeBlanc added that the municipality wants to "make sure we're doing the right thing for the injured and not jeopardizing any Medicare or Medicaid requirements."
More questions seem to be rising to replace those that are being answered concerning CVFD and AFD operations, but Bartley said both agencies are working toward a common goal.
"I think there will still be questions. It's an incremental process, and I think we started out with seven or eight, and we knocked out two or three of them," he said. "If we can knock out two or three every time, then that would be a good thing. But some of these are long-standing disputes that aren't going to go away easily. So, it will be slow, but as long as we're making progress, I think it's worth pursuing."
Representatives from the CVFD, AFD and municipality are scheduled to meet again in January.
Reach the reporter at mary.rall@alaskastar.com.
