Edgewood Police Chief Tom Dickman gave Councilmembers some urgent facts about why he feels the department needs a second ambulance at the March council meeting.
He told council the EMS calls have increased so much that the department has had to ask for mutual aid from other cities on an increasing basis.
“Now, in fact, all departments do rely on on mutual aid,” he began, “but it is typically a give and receive program. However I do believe that it is important to recognize when mutual aid becomes unbalanced, or when an agency gives or receives more mutual aid than it gives or receives. There is no minimum limit to define an unbalanced mutual aid system, but can be interpreted by communicating with those departments providing the mutual aid. I have had a few discussions with our neighboring departments, in particular one department who has also expressed concern over our use of receiving mutual aid rather than giving it.”
Dickman said over the last five years the number of calls have increased exponentially. In 2017, there were 941 calls, and in 2021 there were 1332, an increase of 41 percent. Over that same amount of time, there were 83 received or requested mutual aid calls in 2017, and 157 received or requested mutual aid calls in 2021, and increase of 90 percent.
Whenever the mutual aid is called out, there could be an extra five to seven minutes in response time depending on the location. In addition, if their ambulance takes a person to the hospital, and the hospital calls them and says that person tested positive for Covid, that ambulance will be out of commission for at least an hour to sanitize everything before it can go back out on calls.
The cost of a new ambulance is about $250,000, and an extra $95,000 to put the right equipment on it. More problematic is the timeline of 15 to 16 months to get the vehicle, and that does not include delays, which are increasingly prevalent.
“Having the vehicle is one thing,” councilmember Joe Messmer asked. “How do you plan on manning it?”
Dickman said they have five full-time people and one part-time person on staff, and there are two internship personnel, who are available when they aren’t in school. In addition, the department has three volunteers, plus the three administrative staff, which would include the chief. He said that most of the extra calls are coming in the daytime hours.
At some times, the department is sending a pumper with some equipment on it to at least provide basic life support, but it is not optimal, and Dickman said they need a second ambulance which is similar to the ambulance they have.
Councilman Jeff Schreiver asked about purchasing a vehicle on the secondary market, but Dickman said they are looking for something as close to their current vehicle as possible to have personnel familiar with both vehicles.
Councilmember Kim Wolking asked what is causing the increase in calls, other than increase in population.
Dickman said the aging population is a major cause. He also pointed out a run they recently made to take a critically ill child from St Elizabeth to Children’s Hospital, and said usually the private companies make those runs, but when the private companies are busy, which is happening more often, the city makes the runs.
“It’s not going to stop for awhile,” said CAO Brian Dehner. “It is just going to grow. The transport services are overwhelmed.”
There is legislation pending in the state assembly right now that would demand that ambulances would work with the hospitals.
Council voted unanimously to allow Dickman to start the process of procuring a second ambulance.
‘This is a half million in one year’
Dehner proposed a salary hike of $334,000, or 7.8 percent, across all budgets. He said a couple of people were promoted to lieutenant in the police department, and they are seeing companies in the private sector paying their people more than the city is paying in public works, causing the city to lose one driver already. He said surrounding cities are proposing a 6 to 15 percent increase.
Councilman Dale Henson asked if Dehner was going to come back to council and ask for tax increases. Dehner said no, he didn’t think that would happen.
Henson said his concern was that the proposed number only represents the salary increases, and not the increased pension, or workman’s comp or anything. He said adding that cost, about $150,000, to the $334,000 proposed for salary increases, and the number increases to almost a half million dollars.
He was also upset about the information from the surrounding cities.
“You know, you guys have been saying this every year, and I have never seen any comparable information with other cities in our area,” he said. “If you give me some information, I’ll look at it, but to be honest with you, all we have is what you’re telling us. I’m not saying I doubt you, I’m just saying I don’t have it. So if you want me to buy into that, let’s see it. This is a half million in one year. That’s a big number.”
Dehner agreed, saying he knows it is a big number, and he said it is almost $150,000 more than the increase last year, but he knows it is commensurate with surrounding cities, and he said he will get that information out to the councilmembers.
Henson also wanted to know if the city could do what some other cities have done and give a bonus with the ARPA money, to reward employees, but cut the salary increase number down a little.
“I don’t want any confusion here,” Henson said. “I wish we could pay the employees more. I know what they’ve been through the last two years, and they have worked super hard. But it is a big number for our budget.”
Dehner said he would look at the numbers for the possibility of a one-and-done bonus, but for now he will continue to work on the numbers with the salary increase incorporated, because he thinks with closer inspection of comparison numbers, the raise in salaries might have to be taken higher.
Councilman Jeff Schreiver said he was surprised the number wasn’t higher, in the face of everything going up, from grocery and gas prices to gas surcharges and increased shipping charges for everything. He said the price of everything is just going to keep going up.
Council agreed that they wanted numbers and Dehner agreed to give them all numbers they wanted.
Other items discussed: Wall sign limits, 12 barking dogs, and a swim club sign
Council listened to first reading of an ordinance which puts more limits on wall signs in the city. When this ordinance passes next month, Dehner said that this is the last stipulation that the Kroger company had for the city to do before they start demolition on the old Kmart site.
Mayor John Link said that people have been asking when the project will start, and he said in about three months they should see some demolition.
One resident, who lives on Hummingbird in the Meadowlark subdivision, came to address the neighbors in back of their house, whose residents have 12 dogs.
She told council she has been trying to get some help with the barking of the dogs, as well as the vicious nature of the dogs when they approach her back fence. The resident said she moved to Edgewood because she wanted peace and quiet and the dogs have not made that possible.
The resident said she has made several complaints, but nothing has a lasting effect on these neighbors, so she wanted to come to council to see what else they could do. CAO Dehner promised to look into the matter.
Councilmember Messmer said some residents approached him and asked if they could get a sign on Brookwood where it leaves Dudley, so that people can be directed to the Brookwood Swim Club.
Apparently there is a small sign on Willowbrook, but when teams come to compete in swim meets, people are confused about how to get to the pool. Messmer said they do not want a big gaudy sign, just a smaller one, like one in President’s Park directing people to the White House.
“Joe, we’ll do it,” Link said.
Several employees received awards for years of service. Police Sergeant Ben Flanagan received a certificate for 5 years at the city, and Sergeant James Kreinest received a certificate for 10 years at the city.
Sergeant Mike Winkler was presented a certificate for 15 years and Police Chief Brian Zurborg received an award for 25 years. Joe Brake received a certificate for 20 years of volunteer service in the city. Councilman Joe Messmer was presented with an award for 55 years in the fire department. He had initially been honored last month, but the award hadn’t arrived until this month.
Council listened to the first reading concerning a budget amendment for several changes in the 2021-2022 budget.
Another first reading changed the definition of child care in the home, and added it as a conditional use in all residential zones.
The first reading of an ordinance codifies all the ordinances in the city, in a yearly housekeeping move.
Council passed a resolution specifying how the city utilizes the ARPA funds coming into the city. The city will receive $2.4 million total, and they will deposit the money into the General fund as lost revenue.
Another resolution passed which authorized the city to apply for a land and water grant fund. CAO Dehner said that they applied for it once and didn’t get the grant, so they will try again. The city wants to repave the walking trail at Freedom Park.
The city will hold the annual Easter egg hunt on April 2 at 2 pm at Freedom Park. There is no rain date decided on yet.
