Jeannette EMS plans to remove former station from bankruptcy estate because of liens on property

If there are no objections filed this week, the former Jeannette EMS station will be removed from the organization’s bankruptcy estate, according to court filings.

Because of liens on the property, the South Sixth Street station and its contents have no value to the estate, attorneys said in a notice filed this month. The legal action would return rights to the property back to Jeannette EMS, but a hefty claim in Westmoreland County civil court awaits.

KeyBank filed a $340,000 judgement and mortgage foreclosure shortly after the agency abruptly shut down July 3, 2023. There have been no recent filings.

Jeannette EMS filed to liquidate its holdings under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code in September. It has since sold off two SUVs and two ambulances for $23,500. A report filed in bankruptcy court indicates that $23,224.54 was available for distribution, after the deduction of costs related to the sale.

Meanwhile, the station on South Sixth Street has sat dark. Jeannette EMS had operated for 63 years until insufficient funding and low insurance reimbursement rates made it impossible to continue, officials said then.

Jeannette is now covered by Mutual Aid and the agency has used city hall as a base for one ambulance for the last few months.

Mutual Aid chief executive officer Gene Komondor said the arrangement has been working out well. Mutual Aid employees use space inside city hall. The ambulance moved there after its previous base for responding to calls in Jeannette — the old Rescue 14 ambulance station in Hempfield — went up for sale.

“It really hasn’t placed any kind of stress on our system, we’re good with our response time,” Komondor said.

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Jeannette EMS listed $834,000 in assets, including the station. Debts totaled $1.19 million.