Community leaders slept in the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House parking lot last night to raise awareness and support for the homeless.
Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, Pat Starr and Theresa Stehly were joined by others who were willing to get a”taste” of what the homeless might experience. This event was also a fundraiser for the facility.
There are a lot of FACTUAL arguments for and against using a public ambulance service. So let’s try to stick to those. Councilor Starr did;
And because in 2019 the city will begin a practice of allowing paramedics on the Sioux Falls Fire Rescue to perform advanced life support at emergency scenes, Starr said now is that time.
“All fire fighters are EMTs, and we have a large number of paramedics that we pay to train,” he said earlier this month. “I’d like to see them take on that role because I see ambulance service as a utility, and it shouldn’t be a for-profit business.”
But that didn’t stop Mayor TenHaken’s Deputy COS, TJ Nelson, from spinning the issue;
“This is really a philosophical discussion,” said T.J. Nelson, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office. “But it’s unrealistic to think the city could prop up a city-run ambulance in two years and that’s not something we’d even propose.”
Philosophical? Has Nelson been reading Plato? It is an easy discussion to have based on research that is already out there. This isn’t a conservative vs. liberal philosophies. This is an ambulance service. I do agree you would NOT be able to start one in two years, but a 4-5 year time frame would not be unreasonable.
But this statement is just flat out false;
But Nelson predicts that study would show an astronomical financial burden on Sioux Falls and its taxpayers should future city leaders want to do away with the for-profit model historically used here.
“That would be a huge lift, dozens of new FTEs and millions of dollars in capital just to lift that up. And we’re getting it all now for no cost,” he said referring to the staffing increases a change would require, the construction elements that would come with equipping fire halls with additional space to house ambulances and the liability that comes with providing ambulance service.
NO cost? Was that some kind of sick joke? Right now the SFFD is responding to emergency calls, in fact over 90% of fire calls are medical emergencies or similar events. They are ususally the first ones there before the ambulance. Our reimbursement for responding to these calls and essentially subsidizing Paramedics Plus is ZERO! With a Public Ambulance service we could contract a 3rd party to collect payments and work with insurance companies and medicare for a commission, we would receive the remainder. In other words we would be able to collect payments for service. Right now PP pays the city NOTHING for responding to these events. While initially the capital costs would be high, once the system is in place we would actually be taking in revenue from it. Just because it is PUBLIC doesn’t mean we cannot receive payments for the service.
As for having a consultant looking at options, Cameraman Bruce adds;
The use of J Fitch and Associates as our future ambulance consultant should be held in scorn. This is the operation caught in the middle of the federal probe of questionable practices. Paramedics Plus, it’s personnel and J. Fitch are partners in many operations and “clubsâ€. Any help from them would continue the wrongs we are experiencing.
It is time to explore a Public Ambulance service, but let’s do it in a HONEST and Transparent way.
Pat will be the guest on KSOO AM 1000 today.
While we still have a city election going on this Tuesday, that doesn’t mean the council still hasn’t been discussing the future of leadership.
Obviously a major lynchpin will be the contest between DeBoer and Soehl in the central district, which I predict will be a close race. So close that I don’t think it will be decided on Tuesday because they may have to wait for absentees to return from the snowbirds because our current (Uncertified) City Clerk doesn’t know how to order printing in a timely manner. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
There are some obvious appointments;
Greg Neitzert will probably become chair of the Audit Committee, replacing Rex. He has wide support on the council for this position.
Erickson will probably roll into the Council Chair position with little to no opposition (she currently serves as Vice-Chair).
But where it might get sticky is the vice-chair position. As far as I know, Starr is the only one who has had interest in it. Stehly has expressed she is too busy in her personal business to be chair or vice-chair, and with Greg wanting the Audit chair position, he cannot serve in either of those positions, so it leaves Pat. New councilors tend to NOT get these appointments, and with councilor Selberg consistently sitting in the background, I can’t imagine he would be suited for the position or even want it.
Though council positions tend to be non-partisan, it will be really fun to watch a conservative Republican chair and progressive Democratic vice-chair serve together. Can’t wait to see the sausage this will produce.
FF: 2:19
Let’s say you are a city councilor and a deadly accident occurred in one of our city parks. Similar accidents have occurred over the years. Let’s also say that the public would like the issue looked into. As a representative of the citizens, wouldn’t you look into it? I would hope so. That is exactly what councilors Starr and Stehly have been trying to do. Than you find out that a safety audit never happened, it was actually a ‘training exercise’. Wouldn’t you be concerned about the information you were receiving? So Starr and Stehly asked for the information through a resolution. IMO, a last resort. When cooperation from staff was NOT helpful, they went to the media and my blog, sharing an OPINION of the city attorney. This IS NOT confidential information. It is simply an opinion of a city staffer who wages are paid for by the public, which makes it ‘public information’.
Some think that councilors Stehly and Starr do these kind of things to boost their egos. Maybe they do, I could care less. I really see their main objective is to get information to the public which should be one of their top duties as a city councilor. I really think Starr and Stehly understand that concept, that duty, and do whatever they need to, to attain that objective. They should be applauded for it. And that really is the irony of the ass chewing they received from the 6 other councilors. I think the public does appreciate Starr and Stehly, and when other councilors choose to publicly chastise her and Pat for doing their jobs, it only emboldens them and makes them even more popular with the citizens.
I recently spoke with 3 different council candidates on 3 separate occasions. Of the hundreds of doors they have knocked on collectively all 3 of them told me the #1 issue citizens bring up is transparency and secrecy in local government. Citizens are not naïve, they get it, this secrecy is corroding our local government. The secret siding settlement, the Copper Lounge Collapse and the approval of the DT Parking ramp has infuriated the public. They see the corruption and it is VERY real.
The other thing that was sad about the incident (Item#77, last agenda item Tuesday Night) was this seemed like an orchestrated effort by the 6 other councilors either thru a series of phone calls or emails to attack a fellow peer. One other thing that makes this hypocritical of them is while they cry about respect and decorum from the citizens who pay their wages who speak at public input, they throw any ounce of decorum out the window with this very public attack. I guess you could say ‘leading by example’.
I applaud Stehly for what she said in response to the attack, “I will not collaborate with corruption.†She also said she was elected to represent the citizens, not the administration or different department heads.
And the hits keep coming.
l3wis 
