“Officials in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea are not satisfied with what they view as a lack of cooperation from the Broward Sheriff’s Office during the swapping of fire-rescue responsibilities and are holding an emergency council meeting tonight to discuss filing a lawsuit against the agency.

The town commission voted in March to end Broward County Fire Rescue’s contract. Instead, the commission hired local emergency service American Medical Response.

Town officials say the Sheriff’s Office dispatch center has not sufficiently prepped the volunteer fire department and AMR for the coverage hand-off scheduled for Oct. 1.

“All the radios have to be tuned to the proper frequency. There’s none of that set up,” Vice Mayor Jerry McIntee said today. “This should have been done months ago. We’ve been begging and begging and this is life-threatening.”

“We’ve been in constant communication with them and we’re going to ensure a seamless transition,” said Mike Jachles, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman. “We’re fulfilling our obligation to public safety and we’re not going to let any call for help go unanswered.”

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.”

more to come….