Richmond, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge — In the two months since their August 22 session, the leaders of Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, and Richmond added more detail to a proposal involving the future of fire and emergency medical services (EMS) programs in the three towns.
The October 24 meeting went a step further in a plan based on an August 22 report that analyzed the feasibility of shared fire and EMS services, combining those services between Stockbridge and West Stockbridge with full-time, paid employees backed by volunteers while Richmond would receive support services and training to allow its staff to manage those services within its borders.
Specifically, the new 24/7 department would house eight full-time fire/EMS staffers and one full-time chief, with two staff members serving as deputy chiefs managing finance and operations. The annual salary and benefit cost of this configuration is $977,205, and the cost to each town would be based on the department’s salaries and municipal population, with West Stockbridge responsible for 40 percent of the costs, or $387,420, and Stockbridge taking on 60 percent of the costs, or $589,785.
The proposal also includes a new station with sleeping quarters, optimally located on West Stockbridge Road in Stockbridge, to improve response times. Stockbridge would be responsible for the station’s construction cost that Town Administrator Michael Canales estimated would require a $5.2 million loan amortized over 20 years at a 3.5 percent interest rate for an annual town payment of $354,000. However, he said revenues from the sale of the Glendale and Interlaken fire stations, as well as tax credits for energy improvements, may defray those costs. This $354,000 town payment is in addition to Stockbridge’s estimated annual salary cost for the project of $589,785.
Canales said he expects the project to be up and running by 2028.
During its latest session, the group’s discussion focused on the bridge years, a plan to provide services to Stockbridge and West Stockbridge from 2025 through 2027, the years leading up to the program being fully operational with the new station completed. In those years, fiscal 2026 and 2027, Stockbridge would maintain its agreement with Lee and Lenox to provide EMS coverage and West Stockbridge would be required to enter into an agreement with Richmond for EMS coverage.
Fire support would be provided by Stockbridge during fiscal 2026 and 2027, including the command structure for both West Stockbridge and Stockbridge. The plan would allow for daily coverage for up to 10 hours, seven days a week by adding two additional firefighters in fiscal 2026. West Stockbridge will pay 40 percent of the cost of the chief and deputy chief, or $101,535, during fiscal 2026 and 2027 while Stockbridge pays the remaining 60 percent of those costs, or $154,571.
According to Canales, for the system to be fully operational by fiscal 2028, the towns would need to purchase a primary ambulance in fiscal 2026 at an estimated cost of $450,000, with Stockbridge assuming 60 percent of this charge, or $270,000, and West Stockbridge to pay the remaining 40 percent, or $180,000. Although Stockbridge has an ambulance it received from Lee, that apparatus can only serve as a backup and not as a primary unit.
At the turn of the century, a local town’s fire, police, and emergency services were all staffed by volunteers, Canales said, with that model slowly pivoting to paid employees for those departments.
To move forward, Select Board approval by the involved towns would be required as the Fire/EMS Committee is an advisory board. “If this is where we want to go next, especially for Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, we bring this to our select boards and see whether or not this is what the towns want to do,” Canales said.
