JOHN COFFELTEditor

Ambulance Auth. meeting reveals employee discontent

The Sept. 21 Ambulance Authority meeting ended much more amicably than it began, with the members bridging a rift that had formed over a vote to dissolve and restructure the government entity.

The authority will move forward as an entity for now, but no motion was made to resend that vote from last meeting.

Authority Member Missy DeFord shared some new thoughts on her vote to dissolve the authority.

She said that she has been approached by unnamed employees who are reluctant to voice their concerns to the authority in a public meeting.

“A lot of the employees who have complained to me, they don’t want to come before this board,” she said. “They don’t want to come before the public to air their (grievances).”

“A lot that do come to me to complain…I can’t do anything about it unless (they) come forward,” DeFord added. “But they don’t want to come before the public to air their problems. And I can’t say I blame them.”

As it stands, personnel issues or complaints fall under the purview of the authority, but it’s a gray area between those issues being under county Human Resources or needing to be handled in an open meeting of the authority.

DeFord was also concerned by the department’s shortage of certified paramedics. She brought up two recent calls in which crews arrived on-scene with only Basic Emergency Technicians on board. BEMTs are limited to what medical procedures they are trained to perform. In addition to that there are sometimes shifts with only three crews covering the entire county.

“We’re running on bare bones in the county,” DeFord said. “There has to be a solution to get more paramedics. We’ve been short eight paramedics for a year, two years.”

“I don’t feel like we can continue like we are,” she added. “Tullahoma, I don’t know how they would make it without Tullahoma Fire Department responding with (medical crews).”

DeFord, said she has no problems with anybody on the authority and commended the EMS staff for their dedication and the sacrifices they make.

The county’s paramedic and EMT employee shortage improved when the county implemented a pay raise for EMS staff in 2022. While showing a vast improvement from the time, the county is still short eight paramedics and on three occasions last month had days with only three crews on duty.

“There has to be a solution to the problem. Whether that’s (the authority) being under the mayor, I don’t know,” DeFord said.

The meeting addressed concerns members had with the way matter of the matter of the dissolving the authority vote was handled. Absent from that August meeting were members Drs. Jeff Keele and Jay Trussler who felt slighted by the vote continuing with in their absence.

The meeting ended with the appearance of both the sides being willing to work together as long as the authority stands.

Other reasons cited have been the need for a broader safety committee that would cover EMS and a paid fire department in anticipation of the Interstate Industrial Complex (megasite) coming online. The purchase of the proposed site purchase was budgeted and closing is anticipated in November.

County Mayor Judd Matheny pledged to the authority to oppose the mater being brought up at any special call commission meeting held before the next regularly scheduled meeting of the full commission, the vote to dissolve the body still stands with none of the prevailing side opting to make a motion to resent the decision. Nonetheless, the authority will continue to function as normal unless it is dissolved and reformed by the full commission. The item was pulled from the agenda at the September Commission meeting.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.