County Officials have been made aware of a letter circulating local Fire and EMS Stations urging members to not volunteer at stations during critical times. It appears that this request is being made in order to justify future staffing levels with Allegany County EMS. This letter was penned by IAFF Local 203, at the urging of IAFF Local 1715. This information has been provided by several different sources, and comes on the heels of a Public Board of County Commissioners meeting where Union members accused the Commissioners of endangering the public.
Department of Emergency Services employee and IAFF 1715 President Steven Corioni spoke at the Public Business Meeting on Thursday, August 22nd, and read a series of headlines that he predicted were coming to the area due to “reckless layoffs and budget cuts that you’ve done to our EMS system.” After reading the series of tragic headlines, he stated, “These are all things I don’t want to see happen in Allegany County.” He continued that, “These things happen, we get that . . . but when we actively take moves that increases the likelihood of these things happening in our community, I think it should get our attention.”
When discussing the County’s budget cuts, he indicated, “I think it’s a shame. I think it’s going to hurt the community. I think it’s going to hurt our ability to respond to calls. It’s going to put more stress on our people because our people are going to be running more calls...” He further indicated that this was a burden he is choosing to take on, to make the public aware of the Commissioners wrongdoing, stating, “If this does result in bad things, I’m going to be the bad guy. I’m going to make sure the public knows about it because the public needs to know. They have a right to know.”
Following his presentation, Corioni was asked, “You’d agree with me that volunteers helping out at this point would be essential?” by County Attorney Lee Beeman. Corioni responded, “It absolutely is,” and further indicated that “We didn’t force our way into any station.” County Administrator Jason Bennett indicated to Corioni that he had received information from numerous sources indicating that Allegany County’s paid DES employees were discouraging volunteers from volunteering and asked the IAFF 1715 members present if their group was discouraging volunteerism. Corioni responded, “No,” while Luke Merkel, another member of IAFF 1715 leadership stated, “I will guarantee you that’s not happening.” Corioni indicated that volunteerism will temporarily increase, but that “. . . [Paid providers] existed in those places because they needed us and it’s not going to take long that they’re going to not be able to meet the demand and they’re going to need us again.”
Despite Corioni’s reassurances that IAFF 1715 was supporting volunteerism, it appears that IAFF’s position depends on their audience. Allegany County officials have received a truly disturbing communication that was forwarded by IAFF 203 (Cumberland Fire Department) leadership to its membership. In it, IAFF 203 Secretary, Nicholas Miller indicates that they are putting out the following requests at the request of IAFF 1715.
While Corioni has accused the Commissioners of engaging in reckless budget cuts, IAFF 1715’s actions intentionally sabotaging volunteer efforts is outrageously irresponsible and likely a breach of the ethical responsibilities that its members hold as licensed EMTs and Paramedics. According to IAFF 203’s correspondence, IAFF 1715 requested that its members refrain from volunteering at Allegany County volunteer departments that provide EMS, including Cresaptown VFD, Mount Savage VFD, Tri-Towns EMS, LaVale, VRS, and Georges Creek Ambulance Service. IAFF 1715 further requested that IAFF 203 members refrain from working part-time work with Allegany County. David Caporale, President of the Board of County Commissioners stated, “When we began examining budget cuts, we approached this in a manner that would allow us to provide service to the most members of the County possible, while cutting down on built in overtime. We failed to get the Union’s buy-in to move forward in that manner, but moved forward in the best way we were able. To find that the Union is intentionally sabotaging the efforts of volunteers to support the EMS system is not only disappointing, but entirely disingenuous to the communities they serve.”
