911 board votes to return medical dispatching to local center.

September 15, 2021
911 board votes to return medical dispatching to local center.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.
WEARE TOWNSHIP (Oceana County) — During its regular monthly meeting today, Mason-Oceana 911 voted 8-1, with two absences, to rescind its medical dispatch trial with Life EMS. Read related story here.
Voting to end the trial were Chairman Craig Mast, Oceana County sheriff; Craig Hardy of Oceana County Board of Commissioners; Tim Kozal, Ludington police chief; Jody Hartley, Mason County Board of Commissioners; Brad Fritcher, Ferry Township fire chief, representing Oceana County fire departments; Laude Hartrum, Pentwater police chief; Lt. John Forner, acting commander of Michigan State Police Hart Post; Dale Goodrich, Mason County Rural Fire Authority, representing Mason County fire departments; and Matt Murphy, Scottville police chief.
Voting against the measure was Jim Herrema, district director of Life EMS, representing EMS in Mason County. Absent were Kim Cole, Mason County Sheriff and James Duram, Oceana County Emergency Management coordinator, representing EMS in Oceana County. Though Cole and Duram participated in the meeting remotely, they were unable able to vote due to restrictions from the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Duram had voted in favor of continuing the trial during a Sept. 1 911 communications committee meeting while Cole expressed that he would have voted to end the trial had he been present.

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