Opinion ID: 793749
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Past Relationship Between the Town and the Ambulance Corps

Text: 7 Incorporated in 1957, the Ambulance Corps was initially funded through contributions from members of the community; with those funds, it purchased an ambulance and began providing volunteer ambulance services to the Town. Beginning in 1971, the Corps entered into a series of contracts with the Town, in which the Corps agreed to provide, when needed within Town limits, volunteer services of the type customarily provided by a volunteer ambulance corps in New York; the Town agreed to pay the Corps $4,000 for 1971, $3,500 for 1972, and $4,000 for 1974. The contract covering calendar year 1974 also stated that the Town ha[d] purchased an ambulance suitable for general[ ]ambulance service which is to be utilized by the [Corps] for the purpose of providing the general ambulance services herein agreed. (Agreement between Town and Ambulance Corps dated March 17, 1974 (1974 Agreement), at 1, fourth paragraph.) The Corps agreed to furnish general ambulance service within the Town and to provide trained and experienced personnel to operate and maintain an ambulance to be provided to the [Corps] by the [Town] ( id., second paragraph), and it agreed to purchase collision insurance for that ambulance, as well as liability insurance, thereby indemnifying the [Town] against liability for the negligent operation of such ambulance and the negligent use of other equipment or supplies ( id., fifth paragraph). The 1974 Agreement further provided that 8 [t]he [Corps] shall have sole discretion as to the manning and operation of said ambulance and equipment and in making all other judgments and decisions relating thereto, it being the intent and understanding of the parties hereto that the [Corps] is an independent contractor and not an employee or agent of the Town of New Windsor. 9 ( Id., seventh paragraph.) 10 The last written contract between the Town and the Ambulance Corps was entered into in 1985. In it, the parties reaffirm[ed] the agreements dated March 31, 1976 and October 21, 1981 except as modified []in the 1985 Agreement. (Agreement between Town and Ambulance Corps dated January 9, 1985 (1985 Agreement), at 1, ¶ 2) The 1976 and 1981 agreements referred to, however, were not presented to the district court as [t]hese two agreements could not be found. District Court April 20 Opinion at 4 n. 2. The 1985 Agreement, covering the calendar year 1985, provided that [t]he CORPS agrees to continue to provide competent ambulance service and personnel that it has always provided to the TOWN (1985 Agreement at 1, ¶ 2). That agreement stated that due to the increased cost of operating the ambulance service within the TOWN, an increase in the amount of consideration is warranted ( id. at 1, third WHEREAS clause) and provided that the Town was to pay the Corps $10,500 for the year 1985 ( see id. ¶ 3). The Town also agreed to provide all gasoline required for the operation of the ambulance vehicles until further order of the Town Board. ( See id. at 1-2, ¶ 4.) 11 In August 1990, the Town established the New Windsor Ambulance District (the Ambulance District or District), drawn to exclude an international airport within the Town. The penultimate WHEREAS clause of the Town Board's order creating the Ambulance District stated that said District [was] to be established only to provide ambulance service within the District through a contract with the New Windsor Volunteer Ambulance Corps[ ], Inc. In the Matter of the Proposed Establishment of the New Windsor Ambulance District in the Town of New Windsor, in the County of Orange, New York at 3 (Final Order Establishing the District, Aug. 9, 1990.) 12 As noted above, the last written agreement between the Town and the Ambulance Corps covered calendar year 1985. Thereafter, the Ambulance Corps continued to provide services to the Town (after 1990, to the Ambulance District), and the Town continued to pay the Ambulance Corps—without written contracts. To request payment, the Corps submitted a detailed budget request to the Town each year; the Town reviewed the requests and approved payments to the Corps. By 2001, the annual payments had risen to $211,400, and that was the amount the Town paid the Corps in 2003. 13 Out of the payments it received from the Town, the Ambulance Corps purchased the vehicles, equipment, and supplies it needed to provide ambulance service to the District. The Ambulance Corps held title to the vehicles, and it purchased the necessary insurance coverage. As of early 2004, the Corps had four such ambulances and four other vehicles. At that time, those eight vehicles, along with an ambulance that had been funded by a 1994 Town bond issue and to which the Town held title, were housed in a building owned by the Town (the Town Garage).