The Patrick County Board of Supervisors approved reinstating the rate of hourly pay to Station 8 employees and changing their shift schedules to 24/72 at a meeting last week.
The pay was cut in the third quarter of this year.
The motion to reinstate the pay was approved in a 3-1-1 vote.
Jane Fulk, of the Dan River District made the motion that also was supported by Clayton Kendrick, of the Mayo River District, and vice chairman Jonathan Wood, of the Peters Creek District.
After the motion was made, Doug Perry, chairman and of the Smith River District, suggested that many of the concerns and issues among the board stem from past issues.,
“I know the way we’ve always done things just wasn’t working. The last time it worked, it only worked and was successful because our EMS Coordinator was literally working 15 to 20 hours a day, six and seven days a week,” Perry said.
Under the restructuring (that was not explained during the meeting), Perry said the county is better ‘structured,’ with assessments, and evaluations. “The deputy chief that would have their finger on the pulse, they can work with our employees and say, ‘this is the better mousetrap,’” he said.
Perry suggested the scheduling for Station 8 be changed as well. Without it, he noted some EMTs would be “making like $70,000 a year,” and believes the chief and deputy chief should revisit the scheduling and come up with a more proper schedule for employees.
“I know personally, I’m not a fan of any 24-hour shift, but that’s my personal opinion, and I think there is something that would work better,” and not “put the cart before the horse,” he said.
“I’ve made a motion Mr. Chairman. Right now, BLS is making $15.24” an hour, “they can go to Walmart and do that. Actually, they can go to Walmart and make more, so you have a motion on the floor,” Fulk said.
“And I’m just saying along with the pay, that schedule needs to be looked at as well,” Perry said.
Steve Marshall, of the Blue Ridge District, failed to vote on the motion due to “radically misunderstood” changes.
“I think there’s a lot of work going on with this right now,” Marshall said. “The idea of moving forward is to pay these people more money, not less, and to expand Station 8 Fire and EMS. That’s certainly my goal. So, at this time I will abstain.”
Specific changes were not discussed or made public at the meeting, even after Perry also voted against the motion.
“Basically, similar to what Mr. Marshall was saying, I think this needs time to settle, look at it, and be more methodical and diligent to ensure that thing is correct,” Perry said.
The hourly rates and scheduling went into effect Monday, October 28 to allow work schedules to be changed to reflect the new working hours.
Fulk also made a motion for the county to not purchase a vehicle or assign an existing vehicle to the person hired to fill a newly created position to “drive back and forth to Smith Mountain Lake.”
Marshall asked Fulk for more insight.
“Was there plans to purchase vehicles for two individuals,” Marshall said.
“The chief lives in Smith Mountain Lake, the new chief that they’re hiring,” Fulk said of a newly hired Chief of Fire & EMS. “I don’t think the county should furnish him a vehicle to go back and forth,” she added.
Perry said the discussion delved into contract matters.
“Yeah, that’s closed session,” Marshall said.
“I don’t think that’s in his contract,” Fulk said.
“If it’s not in his contract, it’s not an issue,” Perry said.
The person hired to serve as the new Chief of Fire & EMS purportedly lives in the Smith Mountain Lake area, about an hour and a half drive from Stuart. He was not required to relocate to Patrick County.
Fulk asked if a county vehicle was included in the contract.
Assistant Administrator/Human Resources Director Donna Shough said the new Fire and EMS Chief did not have a contract. “The county administrator’s the only one with a contract,” she added.
“He does not have a contract. He is a county employee,” Shough said of the new hire.
“That’s what I thought. That’s why I’m making the motion. It’s not a contract matter,” Fulk said.
Marshall said he didn’t understand and asked where the two cars came from.
“I don’t know,” Perry said.
“One for the chief and one for the deputy” chief, Fulk said.
“Who said that they were providing cars,” Marshall said.
“You don’t provide a car to someone to drive back and forth to work if they live so far away,” Fulk asked.
“What I’m saying is, I haven’t seen anything come across my desk acquisitioning two vehicles for two new employees. I haven’t seen it,” Marshall said.
“So, I can’t make a motion until you see something,” Fulk asked.
“Well, you can make any motion you want,” Marshall said.
“And I made one, Mr. Marshall,” Fulk said.
The motion was rejected in a 2-3 vote, with Fulk and Kendrick in support; Marshall, Perry, and Wood opposed.
Marshall said he voted against the motion because he “doesn’t believe in making motions on things that don’t exist yet, because I think it just makes an image for the public that there’s something wrong going on when it doesn’t even exist.”
Kendrick said he believes many things are going on, and added that the board hears more from the public than it learns from matters that cross their desks.
“With that I vote yes,” Kendrick said, and cast his vote in favor of the motion.
At this point, Wood said he would not support the motion.
“I don’t officially know who the person is, and if they’re driving the work vehicle and they live in the town of Stuart there’s not an issue with that,” Wood said.
Perry said he agreed with Marshall and Wood, until the board gets more information and knows something specific.
“Mr. Kendrick, the rumor patrol that we hear from the public I think is the root of a lot of these issues. So, I vote no as well,” Perry said.
The new hire purportedly received keys to a county car on Monday, October 21 to commute. On Tuesday, October 22, that person resigned from the position and returned the keys of the vehicle.
Following the meeting, Wood said he didn’t know the position had been filled until he asked on Wednesday, October 16. “That’s when I found out,” he said, declining to identify the person who provided him with the information.
During the meeting, several residents also spoke about EMS issues, including former EMS Director Steve Allen.
He explained that the Smith River Volunteer Rescue Squad was doing its EMS Skills check offs during the week of June 19. “I was asked to help with the skills check off and while I was setting up to start the check off station, I noticed that a lot of the EMS equipment on the EMS training trailer was not there.
“I contacted the EMS Director (Scottie Cassell) about the equipment not being on the EMS trailer, and was told the trailer had been used for mobile health and the equipment had been removed and the staff must not have put all of the equipment back on the trailer,” Allen said, adding that a scheduled volunteer training is not the time to find out the training equipment is not on the trailer.
He asked the board if Dr. Jason Edsall, the county’s Medical Director, had been asked for input about the changes being made to the fire and EMS system.
“Without an operating medical director, no rescue squad, first responder, or EMS can respond to 911 calls, and I would have thought that he would have been involved with any changes,” Allen said.
The board did not respond.
Allen said cutting one shift from Patrick County Fire and EMS, and beginning a 24/48 schedule would be a proactive move.
“You have nothing to entice EMS providers to apply” because they “will get burned out from having to work so much and running calls. I know, I’ve been there,” Allen said, adding that in January 2025, Carroll County Fire and EMS will implement a 24/72 shift.
The hourly pay for Fire and EMS providers in Patrick County has been cut twice in the past few months, Allen said. “EMT providers have been cut 17 percent on their pay. Paramedic providers have been cut 18 percent. How does the board of supervisors feel about this? Looking over at the approved 2024 budget, county employees received a four percent to a 19 percent increase in their pay,” he said.
Allen asked how the disparity was fair to county employees that work in the county’s Fire and EMS to have their pay cut 18 percent. He also asked whether the new fire chief would be required to live in the county so they could respond to 911 calls and serve residents in a timely and quick response.
He also questioned the pay and benefits for the new position.
“With the new positions the county has added in the past few months, where’s this funding coming from to cover the salaries and benefits,” Allen asked.
Galen Gilbert also wants to know the source of funding for the new positions. He recalled that “eight days into the budget of this county, we were already in the red. If we’re touching into the contingency fund, y’all are doing some very, very bad things because we took a hit of 11 percent, the following year another 11 percent, the following year something like six to eight percent increases of our taxes,” he said.
Gilbert asked when the spending spree would end. “We can’t afford to keep doing this, it’s killing us,” he said of county taxpayers. “And some of the requirements for this new job they just put here in the county as a … ‘Fire Chief and EMS,’ we’ve got fire chiefs at every fire station. They know what they’re doing. They’ve been trained, heavily trained,” he said, adding the new job and its title are a slap in the face to existing EMS and fire departments.
“This money ain’t going to materialize. It’s tax money. It’s time to start tightening that belt just a little bit because this spending spree has got to stop, and it’s on all of y’all’s shoulders. Some of them know the speeches they’ve made at fire and EMS meetings when they were running for office, and I feel like they’ve had our back turned to us,” Gilbert said. “Let’s get on the program and quit spending all of this money.”
Crystal Harris thanked the board members for raises to county employees, but not the decreased hourly pay for Station 8 employees.
“Everyone knows that I am an employee advocate. On the board for 20 years, I fought for them (to get) raises. However, the raises they got were almost over $900,000. My problem is that Station 8 employees put their lives on the line every day to save the community,” she said.
As she listens to the emergency scanner, Harris said she knows Station 8 employees are up all night and all day.
“It’s illegal for some of them to run 40 hours. If the governor declared an emergency in Patrick County, you could run them till they dropped.” Otherwise, “36 hours is all you can run them legally,” she said, reminding the board that this is 2024 in Patrick County, not the 1940s in Nazi Germany.
“We’ve got to work with our people. They’re important, these jobs. Station 8 was designed to help the people in Patrick County. The board had paid for their training to have jobs in the county. The board paid for most of the training in all this area,” she said.
Before the board voted to reinstate the pay for Station 8 employees, Harris said “what they’re making now is what they were making three years ago when I left the board.”
Steve Ferring also was among the speakers. He urged the board to reject a proposal to increase the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) by one percent.
In other matters, the board:
*Approved the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds as presented.
*Approved Erosion & Sediment Control, Stormwater Management Administrator Mark Vernon as the authorized representative to sign all documents related to the Virginia Dam Safety Flood Prevention and Protection Assistance Fund grants.
*Approved awarding the bid for the trailer portion of the Mobile Health Care Unit to Legacy Brothers Inc.
*Approved drafting an ordinance regarding dangerous dog vaccination fees to present to the county attorney for review.
*Approved the August 12 and September 9 meeting minutes as presented, and the August 19 meeting minutes as amended.
*Approved the bills, claims, and appropriations as amended.
*Approved declaring November 12 as Disability Rights and Resource Center Awareness Day.
*Rejected a one percent increase to the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).
*Heard an update from Rebecca Adcock, executive director of the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce.
*Heard from Steve Terry regarding broadband.
*Heard an update on the Virginia 250 funding.
*Heard the administrator’s report from Assistant County Administrator and Human Resources Director Donna Shough.
*Heard the supervisors’ reports.
