Commissioner Presents New Plan For MV Fire District

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

Starting July 1, volunteers from the Moapa Valley Fire District (MVFD) will get paid an increased stipend for each emergency call they respond to. In addition, Clark County will be releasing a Request For Proposal (RFP) aimed at privately-owned ambulance companies in the region, to provide an emergency medical services (EMS) crew during times when volunteer coverage has traditionally been low in the community.

All of this was formally announced at a meeting of the MVFD Advisory Board held Saturday, June 9 in Overton. Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick was in attendance at the meeting to communicate the decision to board members.

“I wanted to be here in person to tell you myself,” Kirkpatrick told the board members. “It has been a long and difficult process and I have been worried about what the reaction to it would be. So I wanted to be here to communicate it with you.”

The Commissioner’s plan addressed many of the problems brought to light in a separate proposal approved by the MVFD board in recent months. Like that proposal, it allowed for various levels of compensation to volunteers for each call. This element is made in hopes of enhancing recruitment at the local stations where manpower has struggled in recent years.

But Kirkpatrick’s plan stopped short of the board’s earlier proposal for the district to staff it’s own EMS unit.

The board’s plan had been to fund a full-serivce EMS crew to be on call during weekday hours between 7 am and 5 pm, when volunteer coverage in the valley has traditionally been sparse. The proposed crew would be staffed local recruits, use MVFD vehicles and would be headquarted in district facilities.

But Kirkpatrick said that this arrangement would not be possible in view of existing law. “I have spent something like 200 hours researching this whole thing with staff, and we are going to follow the law on this,” Kirkpatrick said. “Unfortunately we found some problems.”

Kirkpatrick explained that if the district hired its own EMS staff, it would raise union issues which would likely be too costly for the district to bear.
“I doubt that you’d want everyone going union out here and have all of that in your businesss, because that would be much worse,” Kirkpatrick said.

Overton Fire Station #74 Chief Steve Neel, who had been one of the main drafters of the board plan, pointed out that the unions shouldn’t be an issue since all of the positions would be part time and, therefore, would not fall under the union’s interest. But Kirkpatrick responded that the current union contract with the county doesn’t allow for part time EMS positions.
“But as the Moapa Valley Fire District, if we are not part of the County, then we wouldn’t fall under that union contract,” Neel said. “So it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“You guys ARE under Clark County, though,” Kirkpatrick said. “That is the whole problem. That is the way that the law is set up. That is why we have gone through all of these processes.”

Kirkpatrick explained that the only way that the district could hire its own EMS crew, and avoid union entanglements, would be to go through the detailed process of separating formally from the county and forming its own locally elected board. But she added that she would not support a complete separation at this time because of the risk that the district’s finances might not allow the district to stand on its own without the county’s backing.

“I don’t support that because the City of Las Vegas today has a $13 million shortfall because they relied on so many transports,” Kirkpatrick said. “I don’t want that happening here.”

Kirkpatrick explained that the best way to proceed was through the RFP process, and contracting with an outside ambulance company. She proposed that the RFP include a requirement that the company hire and train only Moapa Valley people for the local positions. The RFP would also specify that the crew have full time positions with benefits in compliance with law and regulations. Furthermore, the company would be required to station a vehicle in the community permanently rather than drive back and forth each day from Las Vegas. All of this would be likely to cut costs in the RFP, Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick proposed that the initial RFP start with an eight month contract period. Then it could be renegotiated if needed.

But it was the possible cost of the RFP that concerned local board members. Earlier indications of those costs had come in at the end of last year at around $400,000 per year, just for the EMS team.
Neel explained that the board’s proposal, including the EMS team and the pay-per-call element for volunteers, would have come in at around $300,000 all together.
“If the RFP comes back at $400,000, just for the EMS piece, I don’t think it would be a viable option financially for the district,” Neel said.

But Kirkpatrick pointed out that, with the new provisions in the RFP, she expected the costs to come in much lower. She added that once the RFP goes out, it would still be up to the board to decide to accept it or not.

“EMS service out here is the #1 complaint that I get on fire services,” Kirkpatrick said. “This would be a solution. If you decide as a board that you don’t want it, then you have to own that decision, not me. I’m not taking the blame. When I get the calls, I will respond that it was a community decision.”

Kirkpatrick’s proposal would also update the district’s bylaws and revise its governance structure. Currently, a Clark County Fire Department chief is assigned to act as chief of the district. Kirkpatrick proposed to do away with the department-assigned Chief. In the interim she would step in as the main point of contact between the MVFD board the the county for a time. In the meantime, the district would recruit a new MVFD chief. This would start as a volunteer position during the upcoming fiscal year. But the position could be included in the following year’s MVFD budget as a part time paid spot, Kirkpatrick said.

The five member MVFD advisory board would also be changed, according to Kirkpatrick’s plan. It is currently made up of a chief from each of the three local stations and an appointee to represent each of the two town advisory boards in the community. The new advisory board would be increased to include seven members. This would include the current members plus two additional community members appointed by the commissioner.

Kirkpatrick said that she plans to bring a final version of the plan to the board in more of a town meeting style format so that community members could attend and give feedback on the ideas. Keep an eye on the Progress for further details on that upcoming meeting.