By Taylor Boyd
The Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted against a resolution that would have required the county’s Emergency Services Coordinator to live within Patrick County, 3-2, on Sept. 29.
During the special-called meeting, Vice Chairman Andrew Overby of the Dan River District and Clayton Kendrick of the Mayo River District supported the resolution. Chairman Jonathan Wood of the Peters Creek District, Steve Marshall of the Blue Ridge District, and Doug Perry of the Smith River District opposed it.
Perry said the position will primarily be administrative, though the coordinator may need to respond to some emergency calls to maintain oversight of EMS operations. “But are we going to be requiring them to get up in the middle of the night and run a rescue call,” he asked.
Overby said he did not believe that expectation existed, but Perry disagreed and cited examples of calls that could arise anywhere in the county, including accidents or hazardous spills on major roads. “I’m not so sure that it should have to be a requirement to specifically live in the county,” he said, though he suggested residence should be in close proximity to the county to allow the coordinator to be in the county within a certain amount of time.
E-911 Committee Chairman and former Emergency Services Coordinator Steve Allen asked whether the job title referred to EMS or Emergency Management Coordinator.
County Administrator Beth Simms confirmed the title is Emergency Services Coordinator, which includes fire-related duties.
Crystal Harris, a former board member and member of the Smith River Rescue Squad, said that it includes fire and fire departments.
Galen Gilbert, a lifetime member of JEB Stuart Volunteer Rescue Squad, said it would have to change to include fire calls.
“Even with the fire department. Part of their job description would be managing the system — connecting with volunteers and those kinds of things as well. So you get a house fire, or even a hazmat (call), that local fire department is going to be that fire on the scene and that fire chief it’s going to be their scene until… it outgrows that local fire department to the county level, which would still give the EMS Coordinator time to get on scene and do county-level coordinating,” Perry said.
“That person needs to live in this county,” Allen said from the audience.
“Board discussion,” Wood said.
“Everyone around us has a-,” Allen began.
“Mr. Allen, I’m going to have to ask you, please stop,” Wood said before asking if there was any more board discussion.
Marshall said the questions that were being raised regarding the position could be handled at the time of the job interviews.
“You don’t even know who you’re going to get to apply for the job. So, if you’re concerned about that, and we have someone say from outside the county and someone from inside the county, each individual supervisor can make that determination at the time of the interview who they would prefer to hire based on” proximity to the county, Marshall said.
Overby said the board of supervisors doesn’t make hiring decisions.
“We won’t be part of that,” Perry said.
Marshall said it would come before the whole board.
Kendrick said he heard the position would be open to applicants living as far as 50 miles away from the county.
“I just don’t think that” distance qualifies for this position. “If it was an emergency that actually happened in the county, like with the new four-lane opened up going down the mountain, and you have a hazardous spill and then you’ve got to wait for somebody to come 50 miles to even get in the county before they can start organizing stuff,” he said.
While he knows there are a lot of questions, Kendrick said he thinks it’s a service that needs to be located in the county.
Marshall said he misspoke as hiring is not determined by the board, but by the county administrator.
“But I mean the administrator (Simms) understands what the concerns are,” Marshall said.
Simms said emergency services coordinators are on call 24/7.
“So, we would not administratively recommend anybody who was driving a significant distance away. I would not want as an administrator to have an emergency services coordinator who is a restrictive distance away,” she said.
Wood said he thinks the county should interview and get the most qualified person for the job.
“I mean, let’s be honest, if someone lives in Lawsonville (North Carolina), how far are they from Stuart, but they’re still across the county line. I’m not saying that we don’t have qualified people in Patrick County, I hope we have a dozen people apply. I just want to make sure we get the best fit for the job. If a better person is on one side of the county line road versus the other, that doesn’t play into it as much as their qualifications,” Wood said.
After the vote, Allen left the meeting.
In other matters, the board:
*Approved a resolution with Patrick County EMS 4-1, granting the organization authority to operate within the county. Simms said the resolution essentially gave the organization permission to operate and fulfil the duties asked of them in Patrick County.
*Approved a memorandum of understanding with Patrick County EMS relating to 911 operations.
*Scheduled a joint meeting with the Tourism Advisory Council (TAC) for Oct. 23 to discuss sponsorship grant changes.
*Approved the release of remaining TAC sponsorship grant funds for the fiscal year.
*Approved the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement.
Kendrick attended the meeting electronically.
