The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1451562
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Feburar y 16, 2022 B-3 EAST GIBSON Submit East Gibson news items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg EAST GIBSON VENDOR FAIR AT WIRTH PARK Above: Zaraiah Robling and Zakiah Biggs were of- fered the chance to demon- strate rapid prep mando- lin from Pampered Chef at a vendor fair at Wirth Park in Oakland City Saturday. Right: Kaytesa Taylor, of Dexter Keck Handmade creations worked on her creations at a vendor fair in Oakland City at Wirth Park, where vendors came together to put on their own event due to a slow- down of events in the win- ter months. County Council considers safety tax to raise EMS pay By Janice Barniak Gibson County Council is consid- ering a special local income tax over the next month as a way to pay emer- gency medical staff that EMS Direc- tor David Pond said are leaving for better pay elsewhere. In the county, EMS first respond- ers start at between $12 and $19.28 per hour, (which will raise to a top of $19.78 by April,) but are only paid for 16 hours of their 24 hour shift. They're asking to be paid for all 24 hours. The council will have firm Baker Tilly estimate what income tax would support paying for the oth- er hours. As it would be passed as a safety tax, it could also be used to support a pay increase for the Gib- son County Sheriff's Office, where the department is nine jailers and two dispatchers short. "I don't know how much longer we're going to be able to keep func- tioning," Pond said, adding five EMS employees are waiting to find out what the council can do before leav- ing. Last year was the second-highest year they'd ever had as far as number of times dispatched. "They're wait- ing to see what you guys are going to do. They're not going to agree to get paid for 16 of 24 hours." He suggested the council use COVID relief money to pay the full 24 immediately, for the rest of the year, even before an income tax could be passed. Pond estimated an income tax takes approximately seven months to pass, based on the safety tax passed by other counties. That time includes advertising hearings, conducting hearings to allow remonstrators to speak, and voting. Councilman Jay Riley said his con- cern is that if the tax for some rea- son does not pass, they would have a much bigger problem with employ- ees leaving should they take away the pay increase by funding it wiht COVID money. "They're tired. It's beyond tired now. They've been getting hit daily," said Pond. "The buck stops here. I need your help." Several employees came to ask the council to pass the pay change. The first employee, Ralph Hoff- man, said he could make $ 35 an hour working for AMR, but he's willing to stay in Gibson County if he's paid for every hour. "There's people hanging by a thread...I'm making my decision whether to stay or go by what you guys do." Another, Scotty Benton, has worked for Gibson County for 16 years and called it the best job he'd had outside his work as a combat vet. "I've worked 4,000 to 6,000 hours in my career I've not been paid for," he said. Even beyond that, he's worked through COVID, contracted it, and given the illness to his wife, though luckily they recovered. "We go into COVID-positive hous- es, and even with precautions, we still get COVID," he said. The third employee, Kyle Wade, said he's been training to work up to paramedic status. The Vincennes class is training six new paramedics in this area, but when he tells them about Gibson County they won't ap- ply for the jobs. "They refuse. They cannot take the pay cut of where they're at to come here," he said. "There are basic EMTs making well more than we pay paramedics here," said Pond. Another employee, Byron Chris- tie, agreed, saying he'd worked sev- en 24-hour shifts in a row because they don't have people to cover the shifts. "I'm tired of doing all these shifts. You want to sit there and whine about me making all the overtime. I'm not doing it for the fun of it. I'm doing it to keep the service going." At some point this could mean the service not being able to run all the ambulances, if they don't have enough employees, which would de- lay response times. "It could be your family member, McGraw. It could be yours, Jay," he told council members. Pond estimated some members had worked 3700 hours over the last year. That would average to just over 71 hours per week. Councilman Craig Pflug said the council understands what wages have done over the last year; he add- ed a special income tax was the on- ly way the council could do the pay raise. Sheriff Tim Bottoms hoped the emergency service tax could be used to raise Sheriff's Office pay, where he said employees are also tired from constant overtime and going to oth- er employers. "We're financially focused. We try to have a heart about it, but ulti- mately we don't want the county cof- fers to go down to where they were 12 years ago," said Councilman Jer- emy Overton, adding they'd talked to commissioners about having an open dialogue but were kept in the dark during previous contract nego- tiations. He worries the pay raise may cost more than anticipated because of ad- ditional days off given in the union contract. Those days off may end up burdening departments further as they try to cover the extra P TO in- flating their overtime budget. The council discussed that the younger employees in emergency services may not have the appreci- ation for the pension and insurance packages that the long-term employ- ees have. Councilman Jay Riley said he hopes employees understand that the council wants to give the raise, but they're not sitting on the money. "We're not the richest county in the state here. We're trying to live within our means," Riley said. "I re- alize no one wants to raise taxes, but no one wants no emergency services either." Council approves 50 cent raise By Janice Barniak Gibson County Council approved a 2022 raise for all county employ- ees effective in April, with back pay to January in their Feb. 8 meeting. "Here's where I'm at, guys. I'm go- ing to put it on the table. I disagree with us withholding that salary in- crease 100 percent. I also disagree with the process this has been go- ing through. We've asked, 'what's in the contract? What's in the con- tract? ' I get it. We're not getting it," said Councilman Derek McGraw. "At the end of the day, we budget- ed. We did our due diligence. We're holding it hostage." "Is that a motion? " asked Council- man Dan Beard. "That's a motion," McGraw said. "Then I second," said Beard. Councilman Jeremy Overton sug- gested the county may want to nego- tiate separately with the EMS since they may also be getting paid in a different, hour-for-hour structure. "How does that work in October when EMS is out of overtime mon- ey? " he asked. More time off in the commissioners' employee contract will equal more overtime when em- ployees cover those shifts. "I can't stand withholding. It's not ethically right. I stand behind my motion," said McGraw, who said even with a 50 -cent raise and hour- for-hour pay the EMS would be un- derpaid. "I stand behind my mo- tion...I'm not isolating EMS from the 50 cent raise." Councilman Jay Riley said he didn't want the 200 -plus employees to suffer. They discussed that with con- tracts, what the commissioners ne- gotiated may cost money, and there's only so much. "They knowingly signed a con- tract knowing our budget," McGraw said. "That's ultimately their fault." The measure passed unanimous- ly. "This is going to lead to some re- ally tough conversations going for- ward," said Overton. "We've got to stop the bleed," said Councilman Jeff Clark. Gibson County explores possible American Rescue projects Gibson County's board to decide the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds met last week to evaluate pos- sible projects the county may decide to fund with recovery money. Projects included: • EMS Director David Pond re- questing emergency backup power at $12,000 per station and two am- bulances at $430,000 each to replace two currently undergoing repairs. "I know everyone in county gov- ernment is stretched," he said. • EMA member Stephanie McK- inney presented a plan to have desig- nated emergency sheltering at a cost of $110,990. That would pay for shelter sup- plies, PPE emergency response, a trailer request and more. "We have people who are on oxy- gen, and their power goes out," said McKinney. • George Ballard suggested funds for mental health facilities in- side the new Community Correction facility. Indiana as a state has closed state hospitals across Indiana, he said, adding people who used to be in men- tal health facilities are now in jail, sometimes for two to three years. "What's happened, and I'm sure the sheriff can confirm this, is that a lot of people who were in the state hospital are now in community cor- rections," he said, during a $2 mil- lion request. • Fire Chief Skip Freudenburg, representing the Johnson Barton Township, requested tanker trucks for Somerville, Mackey and Buck- skin coverage at a cost of approxi- mately $295,000 approximately. • Bobbie Joe Seib requested Farm Emergency Training funds at a cost of $27,500 for fire training on the farm, including grain bin safety. The price would buy six tubes and seven grain augers. Of nine county fire de- partments, three have the equipment to do the grain bin rescues, and she said time counts. This would ensure every department would be equipped for rescue. According to her presentation, proximity to the accident can be the difference between life and death. • Fort Branch Library Director Laura Happe requested $100,000 to make the 102 year old Carnegie por- tion of the library handicap accessi- ble with an elevator. She said after re- development funds, the library is still $1 million short on their new build- ing project. • Dewayne Matsel requested funds for a sewer plant expansion on behalf of Owensville Town Coun- cil, with an upgrade to the well field and a new water meter system. He al- so requested funds to possibly equip a town healthcare facility. • Gibson County Sheriff's Officer Bruce Vanoven requested money to add a medical area for those in need or in medical crisis to the new cor- rection facilities. "COVID has affected us not only emotionally but mentally," he said. "We bring in people with mental is- sues, and we need a medical area that is state of the art, where they can be addressed." He said people can be a danger to themselves and others. "This will help make our commu- nity safer," he said. He also requested updated body cams that don't require manual input of the footage, replacement for aging computers and the equipment inside. • County Highway Dept. Direc- tor Brandt Johnson and County En- gineer Matt Holden requested a sti- pend for highway employees, whom they said are considered essential workers. The highway department lost $ 305,000 in the motor vehicle high- way fund and another $ 30,000 loss in roads and streets fund. By allowing ARPA funds to make up those losses the department could afford to give a stipend to workers. • Bill Woods with the Downtown Revitalization Company, who owns the White Church Crossing subdi- vision, requested $ 3 million in in- frastructure to support more local housing he claimed would bring in an additional $450,000 annually in property tax revenue, besides add- ing families who would shop local- ly and have children in the schools. "The economic impact would be felt," he said. • Oakland City Mayor Jim Deffen- dall requested the county initiate a blight program to address bringing down neglected structures. He said Oakland City has sever- al houses on Main Street falling in. "It's not cheap to do that but it gets to a point you've got to do some- thing," he said. • Health Dept. Director Diane Hornby requested a new building for the health department at a cost of approximately $ 350,000. The current building is small and its ramp doesn't comply to ADA stan- dards. They currently have 3600 square feet, plus a tent and a camper out of which they do 1500 COVID tests per month. • Albert Luttrell, of the Patoka Town Council, requested $150,000 to build a new town hall. • Somerville Fire Station request- ed a building expansion. Right now, they have to buy equipment that fits their station because some modern equipment is too big for the building. The next meeting is 5 p.m. March 16; all projects will have to go through an application process.