By Anton Riecher
In a wide ranging Feb. 12 meeting the Medina County Emergency Services District No. 4 board of commissioners pledged to have solid options ready for action in March on a permanent ambulance station in Natalia.
“Y’all have been paying taxes for all this time,” said new ESD4 treasurer Patrick DuBose. “You deserve to have a station over there. It’s going to happen.”
DuBose and EMS Chief Jason Miller, responding to questions from Natalia alderwoman and former mayor Ruby Vera, said that options as to the style and cost of the new building would be ready for board action at the March 12 meeting.
Current Natalia Mayor Tommy Ortiz and alderman Darin Frazier were also on hand for the Feb. 12 meeting.
“We’ve all been on the council for 20 years,” Frazier said. “We’ve busted it to help the ESD from day one. We’ve all gotten old on promises.”
Aside from the new role for DuBose as treasurer, Steve Smith accepted the position of board president for the coming year.
“I’m willing to serve where I’m needed,” Smith said.
Former president Anthony Martin will serve as vice president with previous treasurer Juan Zamora assigned the role of assistant treasurer. Jerry Beck agreed to act as board secretary.
Martin said he would probably step down from the board when his current term expires in December.
With Zamora absent at the February meeting, the board voted 4-0 to adopt a $20,000 homestead exemption together with tax exemptions for district residents over age 65 and disabled. The exemptions were originally proposed by Beck in November.
The board also voted to for an option offered by Allegiance Mobile Health under which Allegiance will take over the lease payments on the ESD’s ambulance units and cover maintenance on the units in exchange for using the district’s vehicles, including ambulances, with the district retaining ownership in the event the board decides in future to change directions. The need for a 3 and 5 year plan for the ESD District was talked about throughout the meeting, and would affect some decisions.
A report that would serve as the basis for a final decision on the option is expected at the March meeting.
Other issues addressed during the February meeting included the recent decision to address EMS staff shortages by working 72-hour shifts, maintenance issues with the emergency generator at the Devine station and an ambulance out of services due to problems obtaining repair parts.
The contingent from Natalia made their voices heard early on during the Feb. 12 meeting when Vera was asked for her option on the hours of the staffing issue. She quickly brought the longstanding issue about posting ambulance personnel in Natalia to the forefront.
“Initially, when we started this ESD business, people came to me — I was mayor back then – everybody promised me the moon,” Vera said. “We went door-to-door making sure everybody voted for it. But it was always with the promise that we were going to have something permanent within our community.”
The board agreed that crews stationed at the Natalia Volunteer Fire Department station would now work 12-hour shifts in Natalia. Currently they were posted their 9 to 5. Allegiance Mobile Health District Chief Patrick Bourcier noted that the Natalia VFD station lacks bathing facilities to accommodate longer shifts..
Miller also asked the board to establish a subcommittee on the proposed Natalia station. Beck suggested adding one or two members of the Natalia City Council to the subcommittee as well.
The board later returned to the issue of building a permanent Natalia ambulance station, with Miller noting that construction of a pre-engineered metal building would possibly eliminate the cost of hiring an architect for the project.
However, DuBose stood in opposition when Miller suggested that a single-wide mobile home might suffice as a base for Natalia operations. A mobile home might cost as much as $60,000 and have no resale value if operations moved to a new location.
The city of Natalia has donated property next to the police station for the proposed ambulance station. Frazier said the city would be willing to compromise on the size of the new building but needed immediate action.
“It’s time,” Frazier said. “We cannot sit here waiting another year or six months.”
DuBose countered that the board was in no position to commit to the project without further research.
“We’re going to form a committee and move forward with this,” he said. “You heard the discussion. We want a place over there for the unit to stay. Y’all have offered a place. All we have to do is finish our side of the deal and figure out how much we can spend.”
Miller noted the recent upheaval regarding plans for ESD4’s future.
“To be fair, six months ago our vision for the future was vastly different from what it is today.”
By comparison, the board’s action on the homestead exemption, previously postponed to allow for more research, was relatively uncontentious. The motion by Beck that the board approve adoption of a general homestead exemption in the amount of $20,000 was seconded by DuBose and approved by a 4-0 vote.
A similar $20,000 exemption for district residents over 65 or disabled proposed by Beck was seconded by Smith and approved by a 4-0 vote. The exemptions are an either-or proposition and cannot be claimed simultaneously.
“The idea is to have a self-contained EMS service here,” Beck said. “To do that, you want to get the community involved. I think what we need to do, like I expressed last time, is offer them something. A home exemption is the way to do that.”
The estimated impact on the district’s bottom line is about $61,000 a year that can be made up from other sources, he said.
More contentious was discussion regarding the recent decision to move to 72-hour shifts for staff. Miller said the action was endorsed by the crew to deal with staffing shortages, Miller said.
DuBose said he was concerned about the impact of staff health, safety and patient care.
“I really want you to watch your crews because I’m concerned for them and for patient care if they’re working 72 hours straight,” he said.
Bourcier said the 72-hour shifts are intended to resolve short-term staffing problems resulting from the ESD board’s decision not to proceed with plans to take complete charge of ambulance operations.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Bourcier said. “I didn’t start hiring for here because I honestly thought we were leaving in November.”
Miller said the 72-hours shifts are not meant to be a permanent solution but to be tried for several months and then reevaluated. The standard shift length for an operation the size of ESD4 is typically 48 hours.
Leading a list of maintenance issues discussed is the recent discovery that the $25,000 emergency generator installed at the Devine station in 2022 is not running an automatic monthly test to insure reliability. No maintenance agreement has been found covering the generator.
“This qualifies as an emergency situation,” DuBose said. “It’s $650 to come out and look at it and make it work.”
Most hospitals and other emergency response facilities require a one-hour test of the emergency generator each week, he said. Bourcier said that the generator did come on as needed during the last power failure at the station.
Action was tabled until it can be determined if the generator is still under warranty.
The board approved maintenance work to reprogram the district radios to allow them to operate on private call mode when staff members are trying to sleep. The special mode activates the radio only when dispatchers have a specific call for the Devine station instead of all emergency calls within the county.
“These guys have to listen to the radio 24 hours while they try and sleep at night,” DuBose said. “I guarantee if you’re doing that you’re not sleeping. Every time a tone goes out in the county you think ‘Is that mine or not?’”
Also approved was maintenance work on the station’s malfunctioning garage doors, original to the station when it was built in the mid 1980s. Ordinarily, a safety mechanism activates to automatically retract the door if it comes down on a vehicle.
“Right now, if the door is closing and you are standing under it, you will be crushed,” Miller said.
The approved maintenance, budgeted at $3,498, includes installing an infrared sensor to detect any obstruction to the door closing. The work also includes safety lights to better alert drivers to the position of the garage doors.
Miller reported to the board that one district ambulance is out-of-service for the time being until a necessary part for the transmission can be obtained.
“Our president has this whole trade war going on,” Miller said. “The part is actually stuck in customs.” Once it clears customs it will be shipped to the mechanic and the repairs made, he said.
The ambulances used by the district are built in Canada, Miller said.
Board members also took action to resolve an ongoing salary dispute involving ESD coordinator Christy Merendon. Former treasurer Zamora challenged the payment of $7,100 to Merendon saying it was never approved by the board.
DuBose noted that Merendon has an annual contract for $11,200 with the board. Under the agreement, the amount that Merendon was paid in October and November is pro rated from that amount.
“She has a justified argument that the board paid her,” DuBose said. “I don’t know how that transpired,” DuBose said since he wasn’t on the board at the time. “But when someone signs a check you can’t play stupid afterward and say ‘We shouldn’t have signed it.’”
Merendon’s contract states $11,200 and when she reaches that total for the contract year, payments would cease. She is under a contract, and is not an employee. The new fiscal year starts October 1.
Many expenses including phones, phone plans, and several internet services being used were questioned and being eyes for ways to save money. Those items were tabled until more research could be done.
