FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT
In the Matter of a Complaint
by FINAL
DECISION
Joseph F. Pisani, Susan
Rubinowitz and Greenwich Time,
Complainants,
against Docket
#FIC 87-199
Board of Directors of
Greenwich Emergency Medical Service, Inc. and Greenwich Emergency Medical
Service, Inc.,
Respondents February
24, 1988
The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case
on December 15, 1987, at which time the complainants and the respondents
appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and
argument on the complaint.
After consideration of the entire record, the following
facts are found:
1. The respondent
medical service convened in executive session at its July 1, 1987, meeting, to
discuss "pending claims and the question of whether this is a public
agency."
2. By letter
dated July 15, 1987, and filed with the Commission on July 17, 1987, the
complainants appealed to the Commission alleging that the executive session was
improper and that in general the complainant medical service does not give
public notice of its meetings and does not make minutes of those meetings
publicly available.
3. The
respondents claim that they are not public agencies and not subject to the open
meetings requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
4. As to whether
the respondent Greenwich Emergency Medical Service, Inc. ("GEMS") was
created by government, the following facts are found:
a. In 1980 the Greenwich First Selectman's
office commissioned a study and report to help determine the ambulance needs of
the town of Greenwich.
b. At that time, to obtain ambulance transport
a Greenwich resident called either 911, the local police or the local
firehouse, and then either the police or firefighters
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Two
dispatched
an ambulance.
c. In May 1983 the Greenwich First Selectman
appointed a health officer to work through the First Selectman's office to
improve the emergency medical system.
d. In the early 1980s there was much discussion
among town officials as to whether emergency medical services should be
overseen by the First Selectman or the Greenwich Department of Health.
e. The First Selectman elected in 1983 wanted
the Board of Health to initiate any new emergency medical services.
f. In February 1984 the Greenwich Board of
Health sought funding from the Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation, as
well as the Representative Town Meeting, to create an emergency medical service
office.
g. In that budget request the Board of Health
proposed a certain medical emergency system which the First Selectman and the
Board of Estimate and Taxation eventually approved and which the town still
uses today.
h. A large part of the initial funding for the
new service came from the Board of Estimate and Taxation and the Representative
Town Meeting, and other initial funding from Greenwich Hospital was conditional
on the town's financial participation.
5. Thus it is
concluded that, although the respondent Greenwich Emergency Medical Service
("GEMS") was chartered as a private non-stock corporation, it was
created by government to a significant extent.
6. As to whether
GEMS is funded by government, the following facts are found:
a. In 1986, when GEMS began operating, the town
of Greenwich provided $108,000 for its initial costs and $245,000 for its
operating expenses.
b. In 1987, the town budgeted $250,000 for
GEMS's operating expenses.
c. For 1988, the Board of Health has proposed
the town provide another $250,000 for GEMS's operating expenses.
d. One of GEMS's three stations, its
headquarters, is
Docket #FIC 87-199 Page
Three
located
in part of the Parkway School and GEMS pays no rent for the use of this
town-owned property.
e. The town of Greenwich pays $1,750 annually
for membership in the Southwest Emergency Medical Service Council, a regional
organization, from which GEMS directly benefits.
f. The town pays $10,000 annually to fund
C-MED, a VHF medical frequency that provides radio transmission between
ambulances and hospitals, from which GEMS directly benefits.
g. GEMS buys its gas at about half the retail
price through the town fire department for an annual savings of approximately
$12,000 - $15,000.
h. GEMS uses the town's 911 emergency system
and directly benefits from the town's annual funding for that system of
approximately $250,000 - $300,000.
i. GEMS's plan for responding to calls for
emergency medical service assigns the task of being the first to respond to the
Greenwich police, thus making the town police department an integral part of
GEMS's overall operation.
j. Those police officers who have the required
emergency medical training to provide this first response receive extra
compensation of approximately $1,000 a year.
k. The Greenwich fire department spent $2,000
in 1987 for special first-responder equipment kits so that they may back-up the
police in providing first response emergency medical service.
l. The ambulance formerly used by the town
police department was donated to GEMS, along with about $6,000 worth of
equipment.
7. Thus it is
concluded that, although GEMS does not receive all its funds from government
sources, it is funded and subsidized by government to a significant extent.
8. As to whether
GEMS is regulated by government, the following facts are found:
a. The Commission takes administrative notice
of §§19a-175 through 19a-195, G.S.,
which detail the state regulation of emergency medical services, including
Docket #FIC 87-199 Page
Four
licensing,
certification, and public hearings; financial requirements and insurance;
requirements for training, equipment and personnel; sanctions for violations;
inspection and registration of ambulances; communications systems; public
education; volunteer personnel and paramedics; and regional councils.
b. GEMS is regulated by these statutes, as well
as further regulations, which the statutes authorize, of the state Department
of Health and its Office of Emergency Medical Services.
c. The municipal government regulates GEMS's
use of its headquarters property, the 911 telephone system, the police and fire
departments as first responders, the municipal gasoline purchasing
arrangements, and the budget processes of the Department of Health, the Board
of Estimates and Taxation, and the Representative Town Meeting.
9. Although the
Commission recognizes that all health care providers, both public and private,
are regulated carefully by the state government, it concludes that the
Greenwich municipal government is involved integrally in GEMS's operations and
that GEMS is regulated by government.
10. As to whether
GEMS performs a governmental function, the following facts are found:
a. GEMS currently performs a service previously
performed by the municipal police and fire departments.
b. The municipal police and fire departments
are still an integral part of that service.
c. Although private companies do provide
emergency medical service, in the town of Greenwich such service traditionally
has been a governmental function; the town considered hiring a private company
and decided not to do so, because the service and its arrangements with the
town were different from what the town desired; and the town chose a system
that includes several town departments.
11. Thus it is
concluded that GEMS performs a governmental function.
12. It is further
concluded that GEMS and the other respondents are public agencies within the
meaning of §1-18a(a), G.S., and subject to the open meetings requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act.
Docket #FIC 87-199 Page
Five
13. At the
hearing the parties stipulated that if the Commission were to conclude the
respondent medical service was a public agency at the time of the executive
session in question, the reason for the session was not for a purpose permitted
under the Freedom of Information Act.
The following order by the Commission is hereby
recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned
complaint:
1. The
respondents henceforth shall act in strict compliance with §§ 1-18a(e) and
1-21(a), G.S.
Approved by order of the Freedom of Information
Commission at its regular meeting of February 24, 1988.
Catherine
H. Lynch
Acting
Clerk of the Commission