NEWS

On January 24, representatives from MEDIC briefed the Davidson Town Board about their proposed Response Reconfiguration. That presentation can be seen at the following link (32 minutes into the video). The brief can be reviewed here. These proposed changes will directly impact the response times to 911 calls from Davidson residents, as well as whether or not Davidson first responders are even dispatched.

The proposed changes and the concerns of Davidson first responders prompted the Town Board to discuss the matter further at their February 14 meeting. The Board decided to develop a resolution to send to MEDIC to express concerns over the proposed changes and request specific changes to the plan before implementation. That roughly 30-minute discussion can be viewed here (starting at the 23 minute mark)

That resolution was approved at the February 28 meeting, and the full text is provided below.

Editors Note: MEDIC has scheduled a series of community meetings to provide additional information on these changes – the closest meeting for Davidson residents will be held at the Northern Regional Recreation Center – April 5, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

RESOLUTION 2023-07

PROPOSED MEDIC RESPONSE RECONFIGURATION

WHEREAS, the Town of Davidson has a core value that says Davidson must be a safe place to live, work, and raise a family, so the town will work in partnership with the community to prevent crime and protect lives, property, and the public realm;

WHEREAS, the Town’s strategic plan includes an operational excellence goal to provide efficient and high-quality public services and facilities through thoughtful and proactive planning, reasonable stewardship of town resources, and a professional and committed workforce;

WHEREAS, Public Safety is one of the core responsibilities of the Town of Davidson and of critical importance to the board of commissioners;

WHEREAS, the Davidson Fire Department provides critical fire protection and emergency medical services and is an asset to our community;

WHEREAS, the Davidson Fire Department is a first responder agency under contract with MEDIC to provide first responder/emergency medical services (EMS) within the Town of Davidson and the town’s extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ);

WHEREAS, MEDIC has proposed a response reconfiguration designed to better manage their limited resources and assets of the system, while providing better responses to higher acuity EMS calls and minimize more risky lights and sirens responses;

WHEREAS, MEDIC can implement this change without the approval of the town of Davidson;

WHEREAS, the Davidson Fire Department and Town of Davidson Board of Commissioners are cautiously optimistic that the changes will be beneficial to the residents of Davidson and the operations of the Davidson Fire Department;

WHEREAS, the Davidson Fire Department and the Town of Davidson Board of Commissioners have concerns about any impacts to the Davidson Fire Department’s ability to provide services to the community and concerns that EMS calls in Davidson will not all have a Davidson Fire Department response.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Davidson Board of Commissioners do hereby request the following should the proposed reconfiguration go into effect:

• That the Davidson Fire Department be provided with all the call data for the calls originating in Davidson simultaneously when MEDIC receives the data so that the Davidson Fire Department has the same information that MEDIC does and to ensure that fire department personnel have the needed information to change the response priority if warranted.
• That the Davidson Fire Department be dispatched to all EMS calls for service in Davidson’s jurisdiction as determined per the current protocol.
• That MEDIC, the Davidson Fire Department, and all other interested parties conduct frequent briefings to analyze the data and discuss the proposed new reconfiguration to determine if there are any impacts to the Davidson Fire Department, to the citizens of Davidson, and the other communities in the county.
• That promptly upon the determination of any material deficiencies in services to the citizens of Davidson and the Davidson Fire Department, the Town of Davidson Board of Commissioners expects MEDIC to immediately take action to rectify the situation; expected actions include, but are not limited to, adjustments to the new configuration, new changes to the configuration, or a return to the previous configuration.

This resolution is to be submitted to MEDIC, Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners, and the other local governments in Mecklenburg County.

Adopted on the 28 day of February 2023.

Signed by Mayor Rusty Knox. Attested by Town Clerk Betsy Shores.