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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/05/2009 05A Draft Minutes 04-14-2009 Special Meeting - Council Forum• YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING — COUNCIL FORUM APRIL 14, 2009 — 7:00 — 8:00 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS — YAKIMA CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Dave Edler, presiding, Assistant Mayor Micah Cawley, Council Members Kathy Coffey, Rick Ensey, Bill Lover, Neil McClure, and Sonia Rodriguez Staff: City Manager Zais and City Clerk Moore 2. Council forum regarding Firefighter /Paramedic Issue Council Member Rodriguez explained that she requested this meeting because she wanted the history of the issue. Mayor Edler said that the goal is to get the Council to make a decision regarding a paramedic/firefighter program as suggested by the fire chief. We have two trained paramedics on staff and have obtained a license to let them use their skills. Council Member Coffey said, from her perspective, the levy ballot was actually • three issues; adding 12 new firefighters, increasing the tax, and also whether we wanted to have 18 paramedics. By voting it down, the decision was made to not do any of them. Since we already have two paramedics on staff, she believes it is Council's responsibility to use those resources. For that reason she supports it. The cost of approximately $30,000 would come from existing, dedicated funds. The concern of some people that the City is going into the ambulance business is not valid. It is prohibitively expensive, we do not have the resources, nor is there any reason to do so. The ballot issue specifically said we were not going to go into the transport business. Council Member Ensey said that 60% of the voters voted against the EMS levy and, for that reason, he will not vote for this proposal. He claimed this to be empire building rather than about improving public safety and believes it is the beginning of a plan to begin transporting. Council Member Lover said he has studied the issue and had a similar opinion to Council Member Ensey. He then read the wording on the ballot issue. Council Member McClure pointed out that he wasn't reading the actual ballot issue title and, after some discussion, he did so. The Yakima City Council passed Resolution No. R -2008- 164 concerning a City Dedicated EMS Levy. This proposition would authorize the City of Yakima to impose a permanent regular property tax levy of up to twenty -five cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation (.25/1,000.00), beginning January 1, 2010. The proceeds generated by the levy will be used to fund additional COUNCIL FORUM — FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC ISSUE APRIL 14, 2009 firefighters and equipment, maintain fire engines; • 9 implement a non - transport Firefighter /Paramedic Program, and fund an additional emergency dispatcher, thereby enhancing emergency medical care or emergency medical services, pursuant to RCW 84.52.069. Shall the City of Yakima be authorized to impose a PERMANENT regular property tax levy of twenty -five cents or less per thousand dollars of assessed valuation? Council Member Cawley said this meeting should have taken place before we even had a discussion and a vote on this. It was worked out in committee but not with the full Council. He claimed it came on a fast track, and he questioned the hurry. He isn't clear on whether or not we need paramedics on fire trucks and has questions. Do we have a substandard system in Yakima? Who is driving this? Where is it coming from? What does the community think about it? If a fire truck beats the ambulance 50% of the time, how far behind is the ambulance? He said he would be inclined to look at intermediate life support training, and not require paramedics. He said we have two paramedics on staff and are being asked to place them into a paramedic program, but he has no facts showing this will be an effective decision. By putting two paramedics on staff, are we eventually going to put more? How are they maintaining their certification? He said these issues haven't been answered in a forum like this. He took issue with the options and the phrasing of them in the packet supplied to City Council. Although there is money identified, is it enough to sustain • them? We have no of knowing if the paramedics will be used. He said the voters said we don't want to have firefighter paramedics. Mayor Edler said that during his election campaign, public safety in the community was a personal priority of his. When'he first got elected, he questioned both the police and fire departments on what was the standard for the number of police officers per thousand and they told him of the western states average. He began researching what was needed to get to that level. Mayor Edler reviewed many of the steps that have been taken in the Police Department, some that were successful and others that were not. He referenced the finger pointing and media fodder with Proposition 1. He stated when you serve on City Council in Yakima, there is always someone passionately opposing you. When Proposition 1 for the Police Department was coming forward, the fire chief took a back seat. It lost. The Council, on the advice of the Budget Strategy Team, made a decision to terminate their relationship with the regional library and used that money to hire more police officers. Then Council started to focus on the Fire Department and getting them to the western state average. There was a new Fire Chief and the Public Safety Committee began to talk about what needed to be done. The original goal was to put the issue on the November 2008 ballot. Unfortunately, there was dissent and some Council members were against doing that. The swing vote happened to be one of the Council members running for higher office who didn't want to be involved in a controversial issue right before the election. So we delayed it. After that election, the Public Safety Committee met and the issue of holding a special election for the EMS levy was raised. The Public Safety Committee agreed. These details are to confirm the subject was 2 COUNCIL FORUM.— FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC ISSUE APRIL 14, 2009 • discussed at Council and at Public Safety Committee meetings. The Public Safety Committee decided to move it to the full Council for consideration and they decided to hold the special election. The ballot measure stated we were not going into the ambulance business but we wanted to see paramedics on the fire trucks. Mayor Edler said we did go into the election cycle. It failed. We are now trying to decide what Plan B is. Although Council Member Cawley took exception with having only two options, he felt the information supplied for the meeting stated the question well. He referred to the philosophical differences of the Council members but that they have the responsibility to lead the community. His stamp of endorsement was when he got elected, yet he knows there will always be someone who thinks he is wrong. The only management authority Council has is over the City Manager who hires the professionals. He believes if you hire good people then your role is to help them do the best job they can. Our current fire chief, and the previous one, said this is what we need. The group that is being asked to take the least hit in our supplemental budget is the Fire Department. He expressed concern that this is even a policy issue. The first question should have been; is it a policy issue or should we expect our Fire Chief, as a professional, to do what needs to be done. It is his opinion that Council should tell the Fire Chief to do what is necessary to provide the very best services to the community and if that means licensing our paramedics, to do so. Council Member McClure gave his perspective noting that if this had come before Council four years ago, and the Fire Department said they could perform a better service for the citizens within the existing budget, it would have been a consent item on the agenda. If this had happened without an election, it wouldn't have been an in -depth discussion. The facts are clear; we've heard without question, that half the time the fire trucks get to the location first. On one level you have to ask yourself, are paramedics a good idea in general? If that answer is yes, then why would we, as a community, accept that they are only going to be there first half of the time? Many cases don't need a paramedic's skills, but half of the time they are needed and not there. The Fire Department has come forward and said we can do this within the budget on one truck in five. Therefore, a paramedic will be there first every time. It may be the ambulance or it may be the fire truck, but they will be there. If there hadn't been an election in front of this, it would have been straight forward; let's use the skills we have. There was never anything about money going for transport. It was not going to happen and it was clearly stated.as such, yet we have people stand in front of us, and on Council, who believe it is going to happen. I want citizens to be safer, that is why I serve on Council. Council Member Lover claimed that the City has more paramedics per capita, in the private sector, than anywhere else in the state of Washington. Most of the fire fighters in the area work part time to keep their certifications current. He said there is a big difference between the City and County EMS levies. It is essential that we pass the County EMS levy as many small departments rely on that money. He fears the Yakima voters are going to hear Council dwell on this and the next time the County EMS levy comes up there will be some 3 COUNCIL FORUM — FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC ISSUE APRIL 14, 2009 confusion. He claimed the City's problem, with regard to the Fire Department, is not paramedics but that we have grown, through annexations, to where we can't provide the services we should. We are probably short one fire engine. He feels it is a firefighter issue, not a paramedic issue. He personally believes the measure would have passed if we had left the implementation of paramedics off of the ballot. He mentioned that the national standard for paramedic response is eight minutes. Council Member Rodriguez asked the Fire Chief why he didn't try to have the two paramedics be able to practice prior to trying to do the entire EMS program? Was the more immediate need for 12 more firefighters and not necessarily paramedics? Fire Chief Hines said the timing of the issue was because we didn't hire the second paramedic until a year and a half ago. In response to Council Member Lover's comments about separating the firefighter issue from the paramedics, 75% of a firefighter's job is EMS. In response to Council Member Lover's comment about the national standard for paramedic response being eight minutes, he said that was the old standard; the new one is four minutes. He also described the different levels of EMT versus paramedics. The intermediate level referred to by Council Member Cawley, is designed for rural areas where there is a longer response time. It would have no effect here and none of the firefighters are trained at that level. In response to the question as to whether there is the immediate need for twelve more firefighters, he advised they are one engine company short for the call volume and need more firefighters. Having firefighter paramedics, because 75% of what they do is EMS, was supposed to be a selling point. There are not enough funds in the budget to hire more firefighters. Other questions asked and answered by the Fire Chief were: • Do you see this expanding to a full paramedic program? That's up to the Council. We put together a non - transport program. Walla Walla and Pasco do transport and it's running them in the red; we don't want to go there. • Is it true that firefighters arrive first more than 50% and is that backed up by fact? Yes • Do the paramedics arrive right after Fire? Chief Hines explained how it depends on what is going on. He emphasized that a delay is a delay, whether it's 30 seconds or 10 minutes, it doesn't matter when you're in a life- threatening situation. He went on to describe the necessary actions upon arrival. • How up to date are the two paramedics? They maintain their skills; one works for the hospital and the other works at a clinic. He explained how they used their skills last week when the ambulance paramedic couldn't do the IV and the two fire paramedics ultimately did it. 4 0 • • COUNCIL FORUM — FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC ISSUE APRIL 14, 2009 • • Are there more paramedics in the City of Yakima than anywhere else in the state? Chief Hines said it is not necessarily true as the private paramedics that serve the city, also serve the entire county. That dilutes the statistics. • • 3. Adjournment Mayor Edler declared a short recess before beginning again on the study session regarding the curfew ordinance. This meeting adjourned at 8:03 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY ATTEST: CITY CLERK COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DATE DAVID EDLER, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A DVD of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office. 5 0