Allen County commissioners signed the contract merging county and Iola ambulance services Tuesday morning. The simple act followed more than a decade of off-and-on negotiations between city and county officials. Two weeks ago city officials gave their blessing to the contract. CARL SLAUGH, Iola administrator, said he would meet with county and city ambulance personnel Thursday night to answer questions they might have about moving ahead.
Commissioners stalled last week from signing the dotted line, taking one more week to ensure county employees would not suffer loss of salary. A schedule added to the contract ensures salaries will remain as are.
New information provided by Eric Sanders, paramedic and county ambulance supervisor, almost sidelined the discussion.
Sanders said the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services was considering a change in rules for type I ambulance service. To this point, type I has required a paramedic be aboard anytime an ambulance rolled.
The change, Sanders said, would allow type I service to have a paramedic or an advanced emergency medical technician (AEMT) on runs. An AEMT may do some medical procedures beyond the scope of standard EMTs, but not as many as a paramedic.
That caused commissioners to question whether they needed to redo part of the contract, in concern that the change might reduce the level of type I service.
Iola Mayor Joel Wicoff pleaded with commissioners to stay the course.
“We’ve already signed your contract,” Wicoff said. “We’re trying to bring this all together and if I take (an altered) contract back to the city council, it’s going to be a hard sell.”
Commissioner Tom Williams agreed, and said he wasn’t interest in changing the contract.
Commissioner Jim Talkington thought otherwise, and made a motion to add a stipulation to require a paramedic on every run, regardless of any rule changes the EMS board might make.
Talkington’s motion failed for lack of support.
Commissioners Dick Works and Williams then voted to approve the EMS contract. Talkington voted no.
That may resolve concerns that have haunted county personnel in particular, and led to angry responses — one occurred Tuesday morning — to the proposed merger of the two services.
Sanders addressed that emotion during a brief commentary in the run-up to a decision on the contract.
“It (anger) is a secondary response to fear” of what will occur with a merger, Sanders said, and has occurred because of “a lack of communication. We don’t know what to expect. We’re losing employees now because of so many unknowns.
“County employees are scared they’re not going to be able to provide for their families, and maintain their current lifestyles,” he said.
The salary issue apparently has been resolved with the schedule attached to the contract. Within it, no county employees would earn less in annual salary — without unscheduled overtime — than they did in 2012, give or take a handful of dollars.
Annual salaries for county personnel in the schedule ranges from $26,617.28 for an EMT to $52,279.68 for a paramedic with considerable experience. On the city’s side, outside of Fire Chief Don Leapheart, salaries range from $31,839.28 to $48,191.60.
To date no firm numbers are available concerning how many county employees will transfer, which may include some role in firefighting. That will be known before long. Slaugh said he anticipated a deadline of Nov. 1 for county employees to make a decision.
Iola has to have time to put the new service together and also, if need be, advertise for personnel to fill slots not taken by county transfers, he said.
If all county employees moved to the city, the total would be 34, 19 currently with the city and 15 from the county. That includes three firefighters working under a federal SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response) Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
County signs EMS merger
