More than 200 people packed the Hackensack City Council meeting on March 18 to debate the fate of eight Hackensack emergency medical technicians (EMTs) whose jobs are now on the chopping block. The City of Hackensack recently announced that these positions would be eliminated in a cost-cutting move claiming the decision will save Hackensack taxpayers nearly $600,000.

But almost 100 members of the audience were focused on a smaller number: eight. Supporters of keeping all eight members of the EMT squad employed under Hackensack Fire Department (HFD) auspices wore bright red T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Save the eight" written over their hearts. One by one, backers of the EMTs parted a Red Sea of shirts and stepped up to the microphone to state their case.

$1 million HUMC payment to city at issue

The controversy over the future of the EMTs has heightened in recent weeks after the city announced the terms of a Feb. 26 agreement with HUMC. The hospital will make a one-time, $1 million payment to the city in exchange for permission to build a new cancer center on Atlantic St. between Prospect Ave. and Second St.

The arrangement will also include the transfer of emergency medical services to HUMC, a shift that will result in the layoffs of eight paid civilian city EMT workers currently under HFD command. The HUMC takeover of emergency medical services, along with the attendant job losses, is scheduled to take effect around July 1.

It is this part of the accord that has caused the most discord. John Taylor, vice president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3172 – Hackensack Uniformed Fire Officers Association, was blunt in his assessment of the agreement.

"I’m going to go right to the point," said Taylor, whose union represents the EMTs. "The city is planning to lay off eight highly trained and dedicated EMTs. Let’s just address the 800-pound gorilla in the room. This is all being given up for a big business deal…The people are tired of big business and politicians telling them what’s good for them. Tonight they are going to tell you what’s good for them."

With that, raucous repartee ensued as many members of the community questioned the impending EMT job cuts. Comments centered on several issues including a potential drop in quality of care after the planned takeover and a possible lack of familiarity with Hackensack among replacement workers that could have serious negative consequences.

"If we have a mass casualty incident on Route 80, will they be able to handle it?" asked Michael Shiner, a Hackensack firefighter who lives in the city. "What makes you think it is OK to gamble with the lives of the residents of Hackensack to potentially save a penny?"

For Lo Iacono, the numbers still add up

In an interview with Hackensack Chronicle on March 20, City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono defended the EMT layoffs as necessary in part to meet the demands of the city’s $79.4 million preliminary budget, which was approved earlier during the March 18 council meeting. He also noted that the cuts were needed to realize what he said was a historically low 4-cent increase in the municipal tax rate.

"The obligation here is to a city of 45,000 people, and what needs to be done is for the best of everyone," Lo Iacono said. "We eliminated four other positions, severely cut overtime and other expense accounts. We did everything we could to keep taxes as low as we can. If we didn’t replace these eight EMTs, we would probably have to lay off 12 to 14 other people in this city to make up for it. It’s a very difficult time to govern right now, but that’s the reality."

In addition, Lo Iacono pointed to the stark budgetary situation facing many municipalities in a state with a total debt of close to $32 billion. According to Lo Iacono, the state cut aid to Hackensack in 2008 by around 9 percent, or close to $500,000. With numbers like these, the city manager felt hard pressed to refuse the HUMC offer.

"It would be negligent of me not to consider an option which would take $1 million of expense, eliminate it and not lose quality of service because it will be replaced by service from a world-class health organization," he said. "It’s a net gain of $600,000 for the city. With the fiscal crisis that we are in, along with the tax pressures and the additional cuts from the state that we are facing, how do we turn our back on an offer like that?"

Regarding the idea raised at the meeting that some sort of big business deal between the city and the hospital is leading to the possible layoffs of the EMTs, Lo Iacono asked a question, then answered it.

"What’s the deal? There is no deal," he said.

"That money is going from the hospital to the city. It’s not going into anybody’s pocket. The crime of all this is that there should be an intelligent, reasoned discussion of the issue at hand, and some people are just grasping at anything to make it an emotional issue."

Lo Iacono pointed to a closed session meeting scheduled for March 25, after Hackensack Chronicle’s press deadline, at City Hall as a venue for such a discussion between both sides of the EMT issue to take place. According to Lo Iacono, he will be present in order to represent the city along with City Attorney Joseph Zisa and city labor attorney Eric Bernstein. Charles Grieco, a deputy chief of the HFD and president of Local 3172, and John Linquito, a Hackensack firefighter who is also president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2081 – Hackensack Professional Firefighters and EMTs Association, will speak for the EMTs, along with additional legal representation.

In advance of the meeting, Lo Iacono seemed less than optimistic, but still open-minded in terms of the potential outcome.

"I’m not sure that there is a compromise possible, but I’m willing to listen to whatever ideas that they may throw out there," he said. "That’s the whole point."

Thanks for nothing

For longtime Hackensack resident Vicky Farhi, the debate over the future status of the EMTs is tied to a larger point.

"This is not just about budget cuts. The appearance of inappropriateness here is very strong, and I would suggest that the appearance of political cronyism is a concern," she said. "But I am even more concerned with the care given by HUMC."

"The care is erratic, not standard and at times impossibly bad. I would suggest to you right now that if you go to the HUMC emergency room and they know who you are, you get a very different level of care than if they don’t know who you are. The hospital does not have the staffing, the infrastructure or the desire to provide the kind of services that our emergency medical services people has provided over the years. You are putting citizens at risk," she added.

Hackensack resident Michael Lesane is one of those people at risk in more ways than one.

"I’m one of the EMTs that you are laying off," said Lesane, 40, who is also a former Army military policeman known locally for his work to help Hackensack’s homeless.

"For the last 20 years of my life, I’ve served our country, our state and the City of Hackensack as an EMT. This is what I get. I get laid off. I’m being replaced by temps. Thank you very much."