This column should begin with high praise and appreciation for the dedicated EMS staff.
During COVID, these folks have worked long hours while short-staffed. Their rescue vehicles needed replacement. The receiving emergency rooms were full, causing hours-long waits to drop-off very sick people. The personal and family risk to exposure to contagion was without question; yet they kept on working.
That level of dedication requires equal levels of commitment from the administrative staff, and the policy makers who provide management oversight and funding through the adoption of the annual budget. Have these dedicated EMS professionals been well supported as they struggle with the terrible impacts of COVID and the Omicron variant?
Recent events surrounding the abrupt resignation of long-term Director Larry Hembree and the 90-day tenure of Phillip Boyle deserve some explanation from our elected and appointed officials. Larry is gone, so we should thank him for his service and wish him well in his retirement.
Phillip’s termination may be another story.
In these times, the hiring of an EMS Director should be an intense, top-priority process. Boyle had the credentials on paper. He was trained in emergency management and medical procedures. The process seemed good with five finalists. The selection of someone from out of town spoke well of the goal of picking the right candidate.
So, what went wrong?
Perhaps there was too much of a rush, since competent interim directors were available from staff. A review of the Linkedin resume prepared by Boyle reflects a number of short-term jobs. Was there an interview committee established by the County Manager before he made his final decision, based on a wide range of input from the committee members? Were staff from the sheriff’s office assigned to do background checks? Was a key staffer from the County Manager’s office tasked to visit his former employer and speak with colleagues, subordinates and superiors?
Once he started work, his expenditures in relation to budget raised some oversight questions. Were these fiscal transgressions unresolvable in a county that emerged not so long ago from near fiscal insolvency?
Could ARPA funds from the federal government be used rather than local tax revenue or were the monies being spent in some unacceptable way? That is another question.
Did the new director start to discuss the sensitive need for creating a full-time firefighting expansion of the existing volunteer rescue function? With due respect for the dedicated volunteers who fight fires and assist the EMS folks when needed, it may be time to start that discussion.
Consider the fact that fighting a fire in the multi-story hotel downtown and the proposed condominium in Lake Santeetlah requires a ladder truck to come from Andrews, and our volunteers have to go to replace them under a mutual aid agreement.
Perhaps the termination was appropriate, because there is more to the story. We need to hold the staffers and elected officials accountable and let some sun shine on the hiring and termination process.
Perhaps the reasons are more self-serving or career extending.
Time will tell.
Roger Carlton writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, rcarlton57@hotmail.com.