Adrienne Sanders

asanders@lohud.com

Complaining members say leaders run RVAC like their personal fiefdom

Corps leaders would only answer questions in writing

Labor Department mum on probe's scope

RAMAPO - A litany of complaints against one of the largest ambulance service providers in Rockland County, including allegations of retaliatory suspensions and firings, has triggered a state probe, The Journal News/lohud has learned.

The probe by the state Department of Labor comes during an independent investigation by The Journal News/lohud looking into similar allegations against leaders of the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps.

Among other issues cited in a complaint from RVAC members was the allegation that RVAC leaders hid their personal ties to a company they contracted to manage paid staffing needs. Up to 15 RVAC members say that corps leaders have run much of the staffing company’s daily operations, despite paying the new company to assume those duties.

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"The matter is under investigation and the department can’t comment further at this time," Department of Labor spokesman Cullen Burnell told The Journal News/lohud.

All active volunteers in the last year, the complaining corps members also wrote to the state attorney general’s Charities’ Bureau, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the state Health Department’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, sources said.

While many complaining corps members asked to not be identified in this article for fear of professional and legal retaliation by leadership, one former co-captain spoke out when reached by The Journal News/lohud.

“When we questioned what was going on behind the scenes — with board decisions, what was going on with bylaws and SOPs (standard operating procedures) — they would find a way not to give a straight answer or they would suspend a member if they got too close,“ said Shimon Teicher, referring to longtime RVAC board Chairman Mark Strohli and President Chaim Millman.

Teicher had volunteered with the corps since 2008 and was suspended more than once for what he says were trumped-up reasons.

The tense atmosphere at RVAC has led to longer response times, potentially harming residents, according to three members. In the past, more volunteers used to spend free time in the RVAC building, which meant they could jump in a rig as soon as they received a call. Now most must drive from their homes first.

"We used to have four or five crews in the building. Now we have a hard time getting two ambulances out and we have to rely on outside agencies, which takes us longer to get to the citizens we are supposed to serve," said one source.

Strohli and Millman declined requests for interviews, saying they would only respond to written questions via email. Strohli answered questions on behalf of both and included RVAC attorney Dennis Lynch in all correspondence.

"RVAC is something that Mr. Millman, myself, & captain (Lewis) Lodini spend countless hours donating our time to, so that we can help our community... Receiving calls and emails like these, ones that imply that we are hurting our corps financially or otherwise is like a slap in the face after all we have done for our organization," Strohli wrote.

Other allegations contend that RVAC leadership has:

Denied members access to updated financial documents, bylaws and board meeting minutes

Suspended members who showed interest in running against them for executive positions

Denied members contact with the corps' medical director and lawyer

A key issue in the complaint revolves around the hiring in 2014 of a staffing company, Medical Emergency Decisions Information Consultations Corp. Like many ambulance corps in the region, RVAC has had trouble in recent years covering all of its shifts with volunteers.

RVAC hired MEDIC to bring in and pay emergency medical technicians and manage related human-resource functions such as payroll. However, the complainants say that MEDIC is actually run by RVAC leaders and staffed with volunteers.

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Strohli acknowledged that his second-in-command, Millman, has worked for MEDIC. And an RVAC captain, Lewis Lodini, himself said he works for MEDIC as an "onsite" supervisor.

“I’m responsible for shift scheduling and for the interview process and for hiring," Lodini said.

Doniel Mendelovitz, the person Strohli said was RVAC's "contact" at MEDIC, has been unreachable for several weeks through the email provided and phone numbers tracked down through investigative tools.

Past and present troubles

Trouble had been apparently brewing at the corps, which has received an average of $750,000 a year from local taxpayers since 2011. Sources said the current issues stemmed from the two top officers of the corps, the only holdovers from 2011 when a financial scandal devastated the unit.

That year former RVAC President Jonathan Mase was charged with falsifying business records.

Mase was believed to have filed false, canceled pre-hospital care reports on behalf of RVAC to increase the corps' call volume in order to receive a larger budget from the town of Ramapo, Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said at the time. After a June 2011 raid by authorities at RVAC, Mase was arrested later that year and, in 2012, was indicted on 54 felony and 31 misdemeanor counts.

He pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of falsifying business records and was sentenced to three years probation on Sept. 25, 2013, said Executive Assistant District Attorney Richard K. Moran.

Following the indictment, all board members were removed from their posts with the exception of Strohli, who has been on the RVAC board since 2009, and Millman, who has served on the board since 2010. There are nine board seats.

Several sources told The Journal News/lohud that, when a member suggested that Strohli and Millman also vacate their positions, he was immediately suspended for “insubordination.”

Members say that Strohli and Millman operate the corps like their own fiefdom, keeping top leadership posts to themselves and persecuting those who oppose them.

Strohli held the positions of board member, treasurer, chairman, chief executive and chief operating officer in the proposed 2016 RVAC budget submitted to the town. He lost his board seat in a May election.

Three RVAC members told The Journal News/lohud in June that Strohli would figure a way to get back on the board before board officer positions expired on July 1. In late June, one of the two members on the board eligible to be elected chairman was suspended from the board, three sources told The Journal News/lohud.

When asked in early July by The Journal News/lohud when he will relinquish his position, Strohli said, “I have been asked by the old and new board members to accept an additional three-year seat that the board has the ability to open. At this time, I have not made a final decision if I will accept this.”

Millman holds the position of board member, president, deputy chairman and chief financial officer.

The practice of combining so many offices, while not illegal, “is a mockery of good corporate governance, just asking for abuses to occur,” said Pace University Professor James Fishman, an expert in non-profit law.

Teicher said frustration “has been building for the last five years with no progress. After trying to get other people elected, they would be disqualified or suspended.”

Strohli and Millman, however, enjoy the backing of other members. In fact, after The Journal News/lohud began its investigation, 16 RVAC members signed a statement of support.

"We, the undersigned, fully support the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps Board and officers," the statement read. "We are aware of false accusations against Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps management. We reject these false claims and fully support Ramapo Valley's management and effort of M.E.D.I.C.S. We are fully informed about Ramapo Valley's activities and fully support M.E.D.I.C.S activities."

Many of those who signed are recent high school graduates who just completed RVAC's youth training program, according to two members.

Kyle Lynch, a signatory who has been volunteering with RVAC for 10 years, said he had no criticism of leadership.

"I can't think of any negatives," he said. "I enjoy my time there and I think a lot of other people do, too."

Taxes support RVAC

RVAC is one of four volunteer ambulance corps in Ramapo. Sloatsburg, Spring Hill and William Paul Faist Volunteer Ambulance Corps also serve the town of more than 133,000 residents. There are no full-time paid ambulance services in the town.

The town allots taxpayer dollars to RVAC and the other groups though an autonomous ambulance fund. This pool of money was part of federal investigators’ focus in April, when they charged Ramapo town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence with 22 counts of securities and wire fraud.

Among other charges, prosecutors alleged that, in order to make the town's finances appear more robust and issue a bond for the construction of the Rockland Boulders' baseball stadium, he transferred more than $12 million from its ambulance fund to its general fund between 2009 and 2014.

RVAC and its funds have no connection with the indictment, Strohli said.

The corps requested more than $780,000 from the town for 2016 — or more than 99 percent of its total revenue. Private donations and investment income make up the rest. RVAC's revenue was $720,000 with expenses of $553,000 in 2014 — the most recent year available on Guidestar.com, a non-profit information database.

The nonprofit corps lists 118 volunteer members on its 2016 budget documents. An estimated 20-30 volunteers are active on a regular basis, several members said. According to RVAC's website, it responded to 3,400 calls in 2013 and covers an area of nearly 35 square miles that includes Airmont, Montebello, Suffern, Hillburn and Wesley Hills.

Pattern of suspensions

Six members separately told The Journal News/lohud that they have been suspended from the corps at least once since 2014 and that several others had been suspended or expelled during that time as well. They all said that the reasons management provided for suspensions, such as “insubordination,” were largely baseless.

All said that they were actually suspended because they questioned leadership decisions or were nominated to run for a leadership post.

“If you try to run against higher-ups — president, chairman, captain — they suspend you,” said one source.

Several members said that they were suspended or expelled without a chance to defend themselves. All the suspensions, they said, were communicated orally.

“The only documentation of suspensions, Mark and Chaim say, is in the minutes. But the minutes aren't published, and no one is allowed to see them,” a member said.

When asked by The Journal News/lohud, "What is the standard process for a suspension and where it is it documented?" Strohli responded, “We do not track all suspensions as there are many people in the house / line who can issue a suspension," adding that explusion from the corps were rare.

"There have been two people who the board and membership voted for expulsion from the corps... To be expelled, both the board and the membership must vote for the expulsion, to date there has not been a time that the board and membership have not agreed upon the expulsion,” he wrote.

Other ambulance corps in the area say even suspensions are uncommon.

“We haven’t really dismissed or suspended anyone from VAC for years and years,” said Lt. William Koch Jr. at the 82-member Peekskill Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

Strohli disputed the notion that he or Millman were retaliating against political opponents.

"We had over 20 candidates who ran for various positions in the elections this past May 2016 which is more than half our active membership," he wrote. "I believe this is (the) highest interest in positions we have had in many years.”

Members say there were only five new candidates on the ballot.

If true, commonplace suspensions would be remarkable given the struggles of today’s volunteer emergency services units to cover shifts, say other ambulance corps.

“When I was captain in 1980s, we had many more people," said Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps Capt. Rich Cariello. "In those days, we had a lot of stay-at-home moms. Now, with the economy the way it is, there aren’t a lot of stay-home moms and the idea of volunteering (is) not as attractive as it used to be.”

Like Koch, Cariello said suspensions were unusual.

“To be suspended you really have to do something bad,” said Cariello, whose 30-person volunteer corps handled more than 1,400 calls in 2015. “There is not even one every year. When there’s a problem, there is a grievance filed and a whole process you go through.”

Lack of transparency

Current and former RVAC members say that, for the last several years, their requests to see meeting minutes, updated bylaws and financial documents have been rebuffed. They claim the single copies Strohli said were available in the RVAC building were not the most recent.

“They always make excuses ... They say the bylaws are being updated by lawyers … for two years,” said one member.

Strohli said a copy of RVAC's bylaws and standard operating procedures is kept in the building, accessible to all members and that they are, in fact, the most recent copies in existence. They have not been updated since 2011. He said membership is notified of any changes at the monthly meetings and the building copy is updated promptly.

Strohli did not address the accessibility of meeting minutes in his answer to The Journal News/lohud's question.

Pace's Fishman said a member's right to see the minutes is basic and part of the not-for-profit law.

Peekskill's Koch noted that his corps' SOPs and operational guidelines are posted on its bulletin board.

"At any point in time, they have access to operating guidelines, bylaws and minutes from the previous meeting — usually within a couple of days," he said. "They are always accessible for any members who would like to look at them.”

At the Yorktown corps, “Every member gets a copy of the SOPs, board policies, service rules, bylaws … If there is change, every member gets a chance to vote on it, and minutes from previous meetings are distributed at board meetings,” Cariello said.

When asked by The Journal News/lohud for a copy of RVAC's bylaws, Strohli responded, "Please make a FOIL request and a prompt and proper response will be made."

Medical director

The complaint also stated that members are denied access to the corps’ medical director, a position designed to oversee the quality of care provided by RVAC emergency medical technicians.

"The medical director is the person who works with quality control and training with corps to make sure they are doing the correct procedures," said William Hughes, executive director of the Hudson Valley Regional Emergency Medical Services Council.

Several RVAC members told The Journal News/lohud they never had training sessions or contact with RVAC’s medical director. In fact, none of them knew who the medical director was and said they were rebuffed by leadership when they asked.

Strohli said RVAC has had the same medical director for many years.

“RVAC has been fortunate enough that several years back Dr. (Charles) Silberberg had taken RVAC under his wing as its Medical Director in addition to serving as a medical director for other local Corps,” Strohli said. “Our Medical Director's job function does not involve meeting with RVAC members regularly. His position is to review and approve or deny policies and procedures that impact the medical practices that the RVAC may implement.”

The Journal News/lohud reached Silberberg, a licensed internist, twice by phone. Listed as medical director at the Pine Valley Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Spring Valley, he avoided answering questions both times. The first time he said he would call back and did not. The second time, he said he was with a patient and rushed off the phone. Additional messages were left for him to which he did not respond.

The state Department of Health’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Services website says that a medical director’s responsibilities include working with the service’s providers on questions about patient care and participating “as necessary with the service’s certified EMS personnel on continuing education programs and the re-certification process.”

Said one member who has volunteered with RVAC and other corps, “Medical directors usually fill out CMEs or continuing medical education forms, which goes toward our EMT licenses. Every three years we need a certain amount of CME credits or we have to retake a class and an EMT test, at $2,000 each. This is a burden on the corps and affects quality of care.”

"Unfortunately, no matter how much good any organization like RVAC does, there will be people in the organization not happy with how things are done and think they can do a better job," said Strohli.

Twitter: @ASKSanders