July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
JEMS pay issue mulled (12/23/03)
Commissioners talk about pay for transfers by reserves
A dramatic increase in the amount of hospital-to-hospital transfers is creating a problem for the director of Jay County’s ambulance service.
The jump in transfers, which began after Jay Emergency Medical Service became certified for paramedics earlier this year, has contributed to a somewhat complicated pay issue, JEMS director Teresa Foster-Geesaman told Jay County Commissioners Monday.
Most transfers are handed by JEMS reserves on an on-call basis. For years, reserves have been paid $45 per 24-hour on-call shift, whether they work or not. In the past, when two to three hours of work per shift was common, there was no problem.
But Foster-Geesaman said Monday that some reserves are now working as many as 10 to 12 hours for that $45.
Asked by the commissioners if there were still reserves willing to work, she replied, “It’s getting few and far between. People just don’t want to work.”
Commissioners Gary Theurer, Mike Leonhard, and Milo Miller Jr. recommended amending the pay policy to pay reserves, who make in the $9 per hour range, their hourly rate for any work in excess of five hours in a 24-hour shift. The reserves would still receive the $45 on-call pay.
The chance would have to be made in the form of a salary ordinance amendment by the Jay County Council, Jay County Auditor Freda Corwin said Monday. Corwin serves as the secretary for both the commissioners and council.
Foster-Geesaman, who said she will discuss the issue with the council in January, plans to track hours worked by reserves over the next several weeks in an effort to gauge the financial impact.
Also Monday afternoon, the commissioners formally appointed Pennville Town Marshal Ralph Frazee as the new director of the Jay County Emergency Management Agency.
Frazee, a member and officer of the Pennville Volunteer Fire Department, was offered the job last week by Miller and Leonhard. He has agreed to begin work on Jan. 2.
Frazee worked at Qualtech Tool & Engineering from 2000 to 2002 and worked for 22 years at Franklin Electric in Bluffton.
He has extensive training in handling hazardous materials as part of his fire and marshal training.
Frazee replaces Tami Mann, who resigned to take a job in the private sector.
Mann was given a plaque Monday for her years of service to the county, along with outgoing highway superintendent Robert Sours.
In other business, the commissioners:
•Reappointed all department heads, with the exception of Sours and Mann. Those appointments are:
Department heads — Foster-Geesaman, JEMS director; Rob Smith, retirement center director; Roger McBride, courthouse superintendent; and Roy Leverich, veteran’s service officer.
Annual appointments — Shane Houck, planning commission; Jay King, alcoholic beverage commission; Bill Kelly, board of directors, Community & Family Services Inc.; Carl Walker, board of zoning appeals; Al Confer, convention, visitor and tourism commission; Paul Pinkerton, cemetery commission.
•Heard a presentation by officials from several local agencies about the possibility of adding a family nutrition specialist to the staff of the Jay County office of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service.
John Knipp, director of the local extension service office, told the commissioners that the position would be fully funded by Purdue — provided the employee is based with the rest of the extension service staff.
Knipp said there is no room to add another staff member at the current location in the courthouse annex at 504 W. Arch St. He said that he would be willing to re-locate on a temporary if the county completes the purchase of the Hanni Plumbing building at 215 W. Main St. That building is being purchased to provide room for a possible jail expansion.[[In-content Ad]]
The jump in transfers, which began after Jay Emergency Medical Service became certified for paramedics earlier this year, has contributed to a somewhat complicated pay issue, JEMS director Teresa Foster-Geesaman told Jay County Commissioners Monday.
Most transfers are handed by JEMS reserves on an on-call basis. For years, reserves have been paid $45 per 24-hour on-call shift, whether they work or not. In the past, when two to three hours of work per shift was common, there was no problem.
But Foster-Geesaman said Monday that some reserves are now working as many as 10 to 12 hours for that $45.
Asked by the commissioners if there were still reserves willing to work, she replied, “It’s getting few and far between. People just don’t want to work.”
Commissioners Gary Theurer, Mike Leonhard, and Milo Miller Jr. recommended amending the pay policy to pay reserves, who make in the $9 per hour range, their hourly rate for any work in excess of five hours in a 24-hour shift. The reserves would still receive the $45 on-call pay.
The chance would have to be made in the form of a salary ordinance amendment by the Jay County Council, Jay County Auditor Freda Corwin said Monday. Corwin serves as the secretary for both the commissioners and council.
Foster-Geesaman, who said she will discuss the issue with the council in January, plans to track hours worked by reserves over the next several weeks in an effort to gauge the financial impact.
Also Monday afternoon, the commissioners formally appointed Pennville Town Marshal Ralph Frazee as the new director of the Jay County Emergency Management Agency.
Frazee, a member and officer of the Pennville Volunteer Fire Department, was offered the job last week by Miller and Leonhard. He has agreed to begin work on Jan. 2.
Frazee worked at Qualtech Tool & Engineering from 2000 to 2002 and worked for 22 years at Franklin Electric in Bluffton.
He has extensive training in handling hazardous materials as part of his fire and marshal training.
Frazee replaces Tami Mann, who resigned to take a job in the private sector.
Mann was given a plaque Monday for her years of service to the county, along with outgoing highway superintendent Robert Sours.
In other business, the commissioners:
•Reappointed all department heads, with the exception of Sours and Mann. Those appointments are:
Department heads — Foster-Geesaman, JEMS director; Rob Smith, retirement center director; Roger McBride, courthouse superintendent; and Roy Leverich, veteran’s service officer.
Annual appointments — Shane Houck, planning commission; Jay King, alcoholic beverage commission; Bill Kelly, board of directors, Community & Family Services Inc.; Carl Walker, board of zoning appeals; Al Confer, convention, visitor and tourism commission; Paul Pinkerton, cemetery commission.
•Heard a presentation by officials from several local agencies about the possibility of adding a family nutrition specialist to the staff of the Jay County office of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service.
John Knipp, director of the local extension service office, told the commissioners that the position would be fully funded by Purdue — provided the employee is based with the rest of the extension service staff.
Knipp said there is no room to add another staff member at the current location in the courthouse annex at 504 W. Arch St. He said that he would be willing to re-locate on a temporary if the county completes the purchase of the Hanni Plumbing building at 215 W. Main St. That building is being purchased to provide room for a possible jail expansion.[[In-content Ad]]
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