Lewiston city council members promised to seek an alternative to the upgrade that was supposed to improve response times and firefighters' working conditions
"We ... hope this exemption helps efforts to attract more volunteers to our fire and ambulance companies, to enable more life-saving work that benefits us all," a Rensselaer County executive said
After getting 155,730 applications from eligible essential workers, including LEOs, FFs, EMS providers and COs, lawmakers realized they would have to put more money in or slash benefits