Interims Pearson and Weymouth seated

POMEROY-The Garfield County Fire District held meeting on January 14 was the first held after the abrupt departure of the Fire Chief, Kris Darby, and with a new Commissioner, Aaron Stallcop, on board. The commissioners discussed at length how to proceed with replacing Darby who resigned as Fire Chief on December 31, 2019. Darby also served as the District Secretary, full-time EMT, as well as covered weekend, evening and holiday shifts as a volunteer. The next task is to restructure the position to better balance the Fire Chief responsibilities and decision-making obligations. It is certain that the fire district has a tremendous task ahead to find a replacement, including writing a new job description, possibly delegating some of the chief’s former duties, and training a new person.

Interims Kyle Pearson as Fire Chief, and DeeDee Weymouth as the District Secretary have been installed until the board of commissioners appoint a successor.

Stallcop addressed the status and impending future of the Garfield County Hospital District (GCHD) and the issues concerning the fire district. He stated the Fire District needs to be sure that they have the personnel they need in place as soon as possible to be able to handle the extra burden that would be placed on the GCFD if the hospital was to close. He added that a new mindset is needed within the GCFD, and that hiring a replacement from within the ranks may not be the right solution. Commissioner Terry John disagreed because he claimed that when hiring from outside the district, especially when hiring someone young and less experienced, they tend to stay long enough to get the experience and then move on elsewhere.

He suggested that hiring someone with more experience, possibly retired, who would be ready to settle down and stay could be a solution. Others voiced a concern that such a candidate may not want to take EMS calls, and they need the person hired to be a full-time EMT.

Another possibility discussed was to hire a volunteer Fire Chief, plus a full-time EMT, and assign the District Secretary position to someone else. Kyle Pearson, Interim Volunteer Fire Chief, said that to do the job of Fire Chief correctly requires a large time commitment. He added that for a volunteer who has another full-time job, it becomes a real challenge to fulfill the duties of the position. Deedee Weymouth, full-time EMT, and currently fulfilling the duties of the District Secretary, stated that being older gives a person more freedom to commit to a busy schedule, and they need someone experienced in the laws and proper procedures required to guide the fire district. A younger, less experienced person would have a large learning curve and would require a longer training time.

It was decided that the GCFD needs to continue employing two full-time people, covering Monday through Friday with 12-hour shifts–including four hours of on-call service each day, with one person being Weymouth. They will begin advertising as soon as possible for another full-time EMT/firefighter, who could potentially take on the role of Fire Chief, if not right away, at some point in the future. However, if the search does not produce someone with that potential, they will then examine other possibilities. It was agreed that they need to have someone hired for the full-time position by March.

Commissioner Gary Bowles reported that Zach Hyer, already with the GCFD as a volunteer, has expressed an interest in filling in for the full-time position until a permanent replacement can be found. He is qualified as an EMR and is willing to work for $15 per hour, eight hours per day, and be on call four hours per day, Monday through Friday. This would give the commissioners more time to conduct the search for a permanent replacement. Weymouth would be his day-to-day lead supervisor, and Pearson would continue as interim Fire Chief. It was approved by the board to offer the position to Hyer. The offer was made the following day, Hyer accepted and starts January 20, 2020. He is expected to continue in the position temporarily until sometime in April, 2020.

The position of District Secretary was also approved to stay with Weymouth, with a five percent increase in wages, plus a $4,800 stipend, the same that was being paid to Darby as District Secretary. Everyone agreed that Weymouth has stepped up and taken on a lot of responsibility since she was first hired about a year ago, and especially since the resignation of Darby, and deserves to be compensated for that.

Garfield County Hospital Commissioners (GCHD) Mike Field and Chris Herres, attended the meeting. Field told the fire commissioners that the hospital district wants to help them in any way they can. They would like to establish a “continuity of care” and want to know if there are any problems so that they can quickly find solutions. He invited the fire commissioners to be part of a new levy committee the hospital has formed, which includes members from various entities in the community. Herres stated that with all the changes occurring, the hospital district wants to do “whatever it takes” to work together.

Fire Commissioner Terry John commented that it has been said that the fire district doesn’t want to transport patients to the local hospital, and wanted to clarify that it is only by patient request that they are transported elsewhere.

Stallcop added that the fire district wants the hospital levy to succeed and the hospital to continue to operate because if it failed, it would place a tremendous burden on the fire district to meet the emergency medical service needs of the community, especially now that they are short-handed. He also said that “the taxpayers will have to pay one way or the other,” because the fire district would not be able to handle the extra load with their current financial resources.

Weymouth interjected that she had met with GCHD co-CEO Jayd Keener, and had talked with Dr. Houser, GCFD Medical Director, and discussed that they would like to put in the past any disagreements they have had, and find a way to work together for the sake of the community.

The thermal camera that was ordered last month has been received and installed on the Rescue 6 vehicle, and the firefighters have had an opportunity to test it. Everything seems to be working well.

A representative from North Star, who had been working with former Fire Chief Darby on the purchase of a new ambulance, brought a demonstration vehicle to the fire station reiterating discussions between the two. A list of options to customize the vehicle to fit GCFD needs was left for consideration. It is estimated that it will take three months to prepare the vehicle with their specifications and have it delivered, but it does not need to be purchased right away. All of the units currently owned by the GCFD are in working order. Stallcop stated that the GCFD has other priorities to address right now, such as personnel issues, and wants to set aside the ambulance purchased until summer.