By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Moapa Valley Fire District Advisory Board voted to accept a federal grant that will fund a new full-time Assistant Chief position at the district. The approval was given during a meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 5 in Logandale.
The $378,672 grant comes from a FEMA program called Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER). The grant funding may be used to pay all of the wages, medical and dental benefits, payroll costs and PERS contributions for the new Assistant Chief position. The MVFD was one of only eight entities that was selected to receive this particular grant funding.
“We need this position,” said MVFD Chief Stephen Neel, who is currently the only full-time paid employee of the district. “I am struggling right now in addition to administering the district I am running calls on weekends and nights. So there has been a deep need. And now we have a grant that will get us started for three years.”
Neel acknowledged the inheritant uncertainty in hiring new staff based on grant funding only. But he expressed optimism that, with the three year boost, the district would either be able to secure additional grant funding later, or to fund the position permanently in the long run.
Neel reviewed a list of annual revenue sources that the district has developed to supplement its roughly $1.2 million annual allotment from the Nevada Consolidated Sales Tax (C-Tax).
This revenue included compensation for the district’s participation in wildland firefighting throughout the west over the past few years. That has ranged from $500,000 to $850,000 per year, Neel said.
In addition, billing for EMS transports had added up to around $225,000 per year. And a contract to provide emergency services to the Moapa Paiute tribe brought about $50,000 per year.
“These are all multiple revenue sources that we are bringing in before we even have to tap into our C-Tax money,” Neel told the board.
Neel added that the district had received various other grant funding totalling more than $1.6 million – more than double the previous annual MVFD budget – within the last six months. In addition to the FEMA grant being discussed at the meeting, this included more than $800,000 in other FEMA grants to help recruit, retain and train new volunteers at the district. A Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) was also received in the amount of $379,000 for the purchase of a new rescue vehicle.
An Assistance For Firefighters Grant (AFG) in the amount of $40,000 supplied a new gurney that was needed. Most recently, a grant for $29,000 was received to supply Stop the Bleed kits to every classroom in Moapa Valley schools.
These kinds of grants were never made available to the MVFD when it was administered under the larger organization of Clark County Fire Department, Neel said.
“Before we separated (from Clark County), we were always told that we weren’t allowed to apply for grants,” Neel said. “Instead we were told that the county had to apply for us. We had the same EIN number as the county and they wouldn’t let us apply for grants independently.”
MVFD Board Chair Joe Davis applauded Neel on his efforts in submitting for grants. “Stephen has been extremely aggressive and he has been really good at identifying those grant funds out there that we can qualify for.”
Neel also pointed out that last year the district had spent only about $100,000 of its total C-Tax allotment. The rest of it, around $1 million, went into the district’s general fund to be used to pay for the scheduled capital needs of the district into the future; as well as possible unforeseen expenses.
“I believe that we can support this position long term,” Neel said of the Assistant Manager position being discussed. “With all of these revenue sources, things would really have to hit rock bottom before we would have to tap into C-Taxes for this position. But as a catch-all, in the job description it will make clear that this is a grant-funded position and that at the end of the three years it will be at the discretion of the board.”
Neel explained that the grant required the performance period for the new employee to begin in February. He expected that it might take 2-3 months after that for the new employee to be trained in district operations.
Neel said that a final draft of a job description would be submitted to the board for approval at its next meeting so that the hiring process could begin. The position will require candidates to already have a paramedic certification. But the Firefighter I certification can be completed within the first year of taking the job. Neel said that this arrangement would allow for a larger pool of applicants.
“When Mesquite floated a position that they needed to be both a Firefighter I and a paramedic, they got zero applicants,” Neel said. “So in our job description, I just require a paramedic because that is what we most need right now; and it is the hardest thing to train for. We will train them on the rest within the first year.”
The board liked the proposal. Board member Judy Metz made a motion to accept the SAFER grant and begin the process of hiring for the new position. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.
