Hiram City’s Luke Schmidt lays out South End EMS hub model with local control, shared training and staffing roles

Chair introduced Luke Schmidt to present "model 4" for EMS; Schmidt said a fully centralized district was not broadly supported, so he proposed a hub model with Hiram as the central hub and participating cities retaining local authority over day-to-day operations. "This gives Wellsville the opportunity. They get to have say on their chief, and how things operate within Wellsville underneath the protocols of the ambulance," Schmidt said.

Schmidt sketched operational roles including a hiring chief to oversee EMS operations, an assistant chief over EMS to manage ambulance licensing and regional coordination, and an EMS training officer to standardize annual training. He said full-time and paid-on-call mixes are possible and that a centralized set of protocols and shared training would promote consistent care across participating jurisdictions. Schmidt cautioned that governance details would be defined through interlocal agreements and a proposed steering committee would help guide operational decisions rather than supersede municipal authority.