TOWER— Nearly a year and a half since filing for union representation, Tower Area Ambulance Director Dena Suihkonen has a contract with the city. The city council here, on Monday, gave its approval to the new deal in a 3-1 vote, with council member Kevin Norby voting no.
Council member Tom Suihkonen was absent.
The 0.8 FTE contract includes a salary of $38,000 a year, with a three percent increase in 2023 and 2024, although it does not include any health or dental benefits. The schedule includes a four-day work week, during two of which the supervisor will be on-call for ambulance coverage. Outside of her regular hours, she may respond to additional ambulance calls when no other staff is available and be paid her regular EMT wages.
Approval of the deal didn’t come without considerable discussion. “I don’t think it’s the right time because of all the expenses of running the service,” said Norby. “It’s a hard thing for me to agree to.”
“What are the alternatives?” asked Mayor Dave Setterberg. “Do you have any suggestions?”
Setterberg noted that the salary amount was similar to what Suihkonen had been paid as a non-union hourly employee.
“You guys did a great job of getting the cost of this down,” agreed Norby. “It still seems like the wrong time to deal with this.” He said the supervisor should have been focused on increasing revenues rather than joining a union.
But Setterberg said the union deal shouldn’t hinder Norby’s work with the ad hoc ambulance committee to improve the service’s finances. Council member Joe Morin agreed. “This doesn’t hinder in any way the ability to evolve the ambulance service.”
Later ambulance discussion pointed to disagreements between Norby and Suihkonen that may have contributed to Norby’s reluctance. Norby said he is interested in being replaced as the council’s representative on the ad hoc committee. “I’ve done all I can with the service,” he said, saying that he found it difficult to work with Suihkonen. “Dena and I don’t see eye-to-eye on some things and that makes it hard to find agreement sometimes.”
Those comments came during a lengthy and wide-ranging discussion on the ambulance commission’s recommendation to order a new ambulance for the service, given the age and condition of the service’s existing second ambulance.
Norby said that Suihkonen and former Eagles Nest fire chief Larry McCray were developing the specifications for the new rig.
Norby also addressed issues raised at the most recent commission meeting by an unofficial Greenwood representative. The township has refused to take part this year in the joint ambulance capital funding mechanism established years ago by the late Ballard Turnbull. Norby said the township is resisting participation over a couple issues, at present, including the commission’s reluctance to allow Greenwood to insert an indemnification clause in their contract that would protect Greenwood First Responders and the township from liability in the event of an accident.
Norby said any indemnification should be a two-way street. “If Greenwood wants indemnification, it should be mutual,” said Norby. “We’re in a logjam over that one.”
Norby also suggested that the council give a final approval to its ambulance business plan, since that’s been another issue raised by Greenwood officials. Setterberg said the service has been operating based on the business plan for some time and that it’s been “a living plan,” that’s been adjusted regularly to try to reduce costs and boost revenues. “We’re using it now and I believe it has improved our costs over the past few months. I think we’re starting to see some improvements that are making a difference.”
Norby agreed to a point. “So, let’s just get it done and send it over to them.”
Setterberg noted that the business plan isn’t really something set in stone. “We can approve the plan, but it’s a living document that changes with the business,” he said.
“Well, this is the draft we have today,” responded Norby.
Setterberg noted that the Tower service has been breaking even of late, and suggested that’s doing pretty well compared to some other area services, which are losing substantial amounts of money. Morin said it really only matters how well Tower is doing.
“It’s a benchmark,” responded Setterberg, noting that breaking even still doesn’t account for the cost of ambulance replacement.
Norby pointed to ongoing discussion of a possible joint powers arrangement at recent meetings of the ambulance commission. He said a property tax assessment that would cover the full range of the service’s costs would run about $11 per $100,000 in value.
He said if Greenwood refused to take part, that tax would jump to about $30 per thousand.
“Would we just not respond to calls in Greenwood?” asked new council member Robert Anderson.
Other councilors jumped in, noting that the service would still need to respond even if Greenwood refused to help fund the system, and that other townships would have to pick up that cost.
In other ambulance-related action, the council unanimously approved the hiring of Karen Schultz as part-time assistant ambulance director, at a cost in line with the previous assistant director. The new assistant will provide day-time administrative help, could help fill in for the ambulance director in the event of her absence, and would be considered on-call for ambulance runs while on duty at the hall. The position will pay $17 an hour for 16 hours per week and includes no health benefits.