Woodland Hills EMS and five towns ordered to devise funding plan

A lawsuit filed in December by Woodland Hills Emergency Medical Services Inc. against Forest Hills over a lease agreement dating to the late 1980s could be resolved as early as next month.

Stephen Korbel, the borough’s attorney, said the two sides met before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Michael Marmo in late June in an attempt to resolve the lawsuit. Judge Marmo ordered the medical services provider and officials from Forest Hills and four other municipalities that use and pay for the service to meet before the end of August to come up with a more equitable funding plan.

Forest Hills contributes roughly $8,000 a year, the most of the five towns, to the EMS, which is based in Forest Hills. The other communities that use the service and help pay for it are Wilkins, Churchill, Braddock Hills and Chalfant.

Woodland Hills EMS was formed in September 2001 by the merger of Forest Hills Chalfant Rescue 8 and Wilkins Churchill Rescue No. 1.

The lawsuit said that before Woodland Hills EMS was formed, its predecessor, Rescue 8, had a lease agreement with Forest Hills dating to January 1989. Woodland Hills EMS leases the land where its building sits from Forest Hills. The emergency services provider owns the building, the borough has said.

According to the lawsuit, the Woodland Hills EMS manager sent a letter to Forest Hills in August 2016 about replacing a second-floor toilet in its building on Vine Alley. However, the borough said it was not responsible for the toilet and there was no lease between the parties.

The lawsuit said the two sides have not been able to negotiate a new agreement and Woodland Hills EMS wants the original lease agreement upheld.

David Chontos, attorney for Woodland Hills EMS, could not be reached for comment.