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In a news release, police said that the lone occupant of the vehicle, Gregory C. Church, 54, of Ogdensburg, was found unconscious behind the wheel. EMS personnel used Narcan on Church, who became conscious and was subsequently transported to Auburn Community Hospital.

Police said that approximately 56.3 grams of cocaine were located inside the vehicle and that when Church was released from the hospital, he was arrested on two class B felony charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance, and also a misdemeanor of driving while ability impaired by drugs.

Church was transported from the hospital to the Cayuga County Jail for arraignment.

Chris Trevisani, vice president of business development for Housing Visions, detailed the plan during a presentation at the county Legislature meeting Tuesday. He told legislators that the current shelter, which has 16 beds, is "dramatically undersized." 

The new building would be operated by the Syracuse-based Rescue Mission. It would have 80 beds and nine permanent supportive housing units. Case management will be available and security will be on site. 

One goal, according to Trevisani, is to provide space for homeless individuals who are either housed in hotels or stay with friends because there aren't enough beds at the shelter. 

"One development and one project doesn't solve that problem," he said. "It's something that needs to happen over time, but we need to gain momentum and we're hoping to kind of get that started." 

The idea for the county to use federal funding — specifically, $1 million from its American Rescue Plan award — was first raised at the county Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee this month. A late addition to the committee's agenda was to allocate that funding to support the construction of the new homeless shelter. 

If the county signed off on the $1 million investment, it would open up other funding sources to finance the project. Trevisani explained at the committee meeting that with the American Rescue Plan funds, they can apply for additional funding through the Homeless Housing Assistance Program, which supports emergency housing projects. Legislator Elane Daly, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, said the county's contribution would help leverage $8 million in federal and state funds. 

Legislator Chris Petrus said he had a "change of heart" regarding plans for an emergency shelter. His shift is due to what he's seen in his district with homeless individuals being housed at hotels in the town of Brutus and village of Weedsport. 

"I am 100% in support of this at this point," said Petrus, a Republican who encouraged his colleagues to vote for the resolution. 

Another legislator, Jim Basile, noted the county covers the costs — $100 a night — for homeless people to stay at the hotels when there isn't enough space at the shelter. He said he supports the project because it could save taxpayers money. 

When the full legislature voted on the proposal Tuesday, there was unanimous support from those in attendance. One legislator, Michael Didio, was not at the meeting. 

Although the county's support is important, the city of Auburn must also approve the project. Site plan approval is needed before Housing Visions applies for additional funding. 

While the shelter will be a separate project, it is part of Housing Visions' plan to provide more housing options in Auburn. The organization has also entered into a contract with the Diocese of Rochester to buy the Holy Family School on North Street. Trevisani said the reuse of the school will include 15 to 20 permanent housing units and recreation space. 

He also mentioned the affordable housing project at 197 State St. — the state awarded $1.5 million for Housing Visions to convert the 25,000-square-foot building into 16 apartments — and the nonprofit's plans to renovate existing units on Fort and Westlake streets in the city. 

A resident told officers that they were being targeted with "harassing behavior and a continued course of unnecessary conduct" from a neighbor. Over the course of the next four weeks, the sheriff's office said, deputies reviewed evidence and conducted interviews that ultimately corroborated that the behavior "was in fact occurring and served no legitimate purpose other than to disrupt and annoy."

Officers arrested Barbara J. Stotler, 69, Oct. 19 on a charge of fourth-degree stalking, a class B misdemeanor.

Stotler was processed at the sheriff's office and arraigned at CAP court, where she was released on her own recognizance.

A previous tenant of the residence, Kira M. Monroe, was arrested on a charge of second-degree attempted arson (a class B felony), and the Auburn Police Department is asking anyone with information related to the case to contact Detective Adam Rivers at (315) 567-0073 or (315) 253-3231.

To begin figuring out how to fill that void, Shurtleff has asked AMR to provide the county more detailed call response data. The provider operates one 24-hour rig and one 12-hour daytime rig from its Auburn station, he explained. Sometimes it responds with a full rig and sometimes with advanced life support intercept services for smaller providers, riding in their ambulances to the hospital.

That data will help the county "determine a path forward," Shurtleff said, in partnership with Auburn City Ambulance and the handful of other ambulance providers that will be left in the area.

"Those are conversations that will have to happen with agency chiefs and leaders in the very near future," he said. "We need to find an immediate solution in order to handle the call volume."

AMR, a subsidiary of Global Medical Response, confirmed in a statement to ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» on Monday that its Auburn operations will close effective Dec. 31. The private provider has served Cayuga County for more than 40 years. All local employees will be offered positions at its Syracuse operations, and AMR said it is "committed to a successful transition of services as determined by the county."

AMR said its decision to leave the county was made due to "stagnant reimbursement rates, rising costs of apparatus and medical supplies and the cost of a qualified workforce in a post-pandemic society."

Emergency medical services providers nationwide face similar problems, Shurtleff said. The fact New York state does not classify EMS as essential — meaning that municipalities don't have to provide them like fire and police services — exacerbates those problems, in his opinion. But he hopes that will change with a bill to the state Senate in 2021 that would classify EMS as essential.

"There's potential for a reworked system out of this," he said, "but truly Cayuga County is seeing the local effect of health care and EMS systems struggling at a national scale." 

What didn't play a role in AMR's decision, Shurtleff continued, was Auburn's creation of a municipal ambulance service in 2021.

Lon Fricano, who served as director of operations for the city service's predecessor, TLC Emergency Medical Services, said in a letter to the editor in ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» this week that the change "destabilized" local ambulance service and led to AMR's decision. He also accused the city service of "traveling to distant facilities while you may be waiting for an ambulance and AMR was being underutilized."

According to data received from the city of Auburn through a Freedom of Information Law request by ÈËÊÞÐÔ½», however, city ambulance hospital-to-hospital transports have decreased since the creation of the new service. TLC averaged 70.7 transports a month in the 10 months of 2021 prior to the change, while Auburn City Ambulance has averaged 55.2 transports a month since. 

Shurtleff said he thought the city's service "worked well" with AMR.

"I would actually say there were a number of times when AMR was covered by the city, and the city was covered by AMR," he said. "You can't predict when people have heart attacks." 

The city service, and other ambulance providers in Cayuga County, now have a little more than two months to figure out how to work best together in the absence of AMR.

"EMS is a unique animal," Shurtleff said. "These additional agencies will have to look at their own structures to see where they can pick it up to move forward and continue serving the public."