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The Daily Tar Heel
Town Talk

Commissioners hope to drive down EMS times

A previous version of this story stated that Austin Genke, instead of Barry Jacobs, was appointed to Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center Corporation board of directors. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

No one likes a slow commute — but for Orange County ambulances, they’ve become a life-threatening problem.

Now, the Board of Orange County Commissioners will spend up to $28,000 to fix that. The board voted Thursday to hire an outside consulting group, Solutions for Local Government, Inc., to assess the county’s emergency medical services and the 911 communications center.

The board’s decision was based on a recommendation from the county’s emergency services workgroup.

The county will use the evaluations to make improvements to emergency services, including shortening ambulance response times and updating technology at the 911 communications center.

The board voted to allow chairwoman Bernadette Pelissier to continue negotiations with Durham County on the proposed light rail transit system. But Commissioner Alice Gordon cautioned the board to not make definitive decisions before two public meetings are held in April.

The board also unanimously voted to update a resolution that allows the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to provide temporary assistance to other law enforcement agencies in times of need.

Notable:

James Watts, Dina Mills and Commissioner Barry Jacobs were appointed to the Board of Directors for the Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center Corporation.

Quotable:

“We’re going to need as much data as we can get,” said Commissioner Earl McKee on the decision to hire a consulting firm.

“There may be other suggestions that come up from those two meetings,” said Gordon on the importance of considering public opinion before making decisions about the light rail transit system.

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