At the April 21, 2009 town board meeting, Mr. Runion claimed he had not heard any complaints about paramedic staffing cuts. See clip from meeting
This claim was completely false. In January 2009, the head of the paramedics union sent Mr. Runion a letter complaining about the cuts in which he said, "staffing cuts would seriously compromise response capabilities, citizen safety and effectiveness of the EMS department" (see attached letter). It cites a call which should have been a 3-to-5 minute response turn into a 22-minute response time event.
See the image below of a letter sent to Runion by the paramedics representative, or see it in pdf format.
For the 2010 budget, Mr. Runion proposes dramatic cuts to paramedics. At the same time, he is giving himself a pay raise.