City, union resolve unfair labor practice; could city get into the ambulance business?
Kainan Rinaberger said two-thirds of the time on any given day there are no ambulances available to transport patients in Springfield.
"We might be treating a person in their house for 20 to 30 minutes," said Rinaberger, the Springfield Fire Fighters Local 37 president, "when we need to get them to the hospital. We're still providing the care; we just can't get them to the hospital. There have been instances where we've told patients, hey, there aren't any ambulances, you might want to drive yourself.
"That's kind of the nature of the beast."
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On Wednesday, the full city council voted 8-0 for ordinance approving a memorandum of understanding between the local and the city that settles an unfair labor practice going back to September 2021.
Ward 4 Ald. Larry Rockford and Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase voted "present."
The 1% across-the-board increase in the firefighters' year-end certification level bonuses is retroactive to 2021.
Since that time, firefighters have been getting into the backs of ambulances as sole medical providers because private companies often don't have the higher level of care for firefighters to pass off that patient to.
Because of taking on the extra duties and not getting compensated, Local 37 filed a complaint against the city. The Labor Board agreed with an administrative law judge’s ruling that the city had violated the Public Labor Relations Act.
A component of the agreement is the formation of a joint committee between the city and the union that looks at longer term solutions.
Rinaberger and some other alderpersons believe that lies in the city providing its own ambulance service to complement the other three companies in town, two that are privately owned and one that is run by a not-for-profit.
Mayor Misty Buscher, who as a candidate said she was open to discussions about the city getting into the ambulance business, insisted Wednesday that the discussions need to happen on a variety of fronts, from costs versus benefits to questions of personnel.
"The important part is to have enough stakeholders in those meetings, so we get opinions from everyone and have those discussions," Buscher said afterwards. "As the mayor, I will open up as much information, all that I can that is allowable to the aldermen and the alderwomen, because ultimately they're voting on this, and they should have all their information."
Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley said the fact that the MOU "at least envisions the city establishing a municipal ambulance service" is a forward-looking part to the agreement.
Conley said she personally witnessed Springfield firefighters roll up at least 15 minutes before an ambulance as a person was having a cardiac incident.
"That's a significant time frame," Conley said, "when you're talking about having a life-threatening condition."
Ward 1 Ald. Ralph Hanauer said he was considering an ordinance that bills ambulance companies for city losses.
When ambulances transport patients to the hospital, they bill patients' insurance companies or Medicaid to recoup that cost, even if firefighters are part of the higher level of medical care.
"We've been subsidizing the ambulance companies," Hanauer said. "They just do the basic life support. They get the money and we're doing the job. They'll start putting people on their crews who have the advance life support because they're not going to like getting billed."
If the city does get its own ambulances, Rinaberger told The State Journal-Register earlier Wednesday, it could be a mutually beneficial situation.
Private ambulance companies could run more private calls, he said, like returning patients to nursing homes.
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"The money for the private companies isn't the 911 calls," Rinaberger said. "We're just trying to add to that pool, so people don't have to wait."
There would be initial start-up costs for the city, he said, but there is a federal program that reimburses public transport agencies for the costs of the runs they make.
Simply put, Rinaberger said, there aren't enough ambulances or enough highly trained medical personnel currently in the city to go around.
"That's why we, who have personnel, would like to have ambulances to help supplement that system and fill those gaps," he said. "When we hire people, we put them through that training ourselves. Any time we bring on personnel, we train them up to the intermediate level, the level of medical care we want people to have.
"We're going to add to the pool, as opposed to spreading the pool out."
Project Labor Agreement approved
With hundreds of laborers packing the chambers, the city council approved a new Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the city.
Buscher after the meeting compared the old bidding process to "the wild, wild West."
"Some rules applied to some people, but not others," she said. "This (ordinance) sets rules and boundaries for all projects over $50,000. They're there. They're written and they can follow them."
Prior to the vote, said Corporation Counsel Greg Moredock, the city code said that PLAs were "authorized but not required."
Echoing comments from Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 477 business manager Brad Schaive, Buscher said "anyone" can bid on contracts, not just specific oriented businesses.
Schaive pointed out the three fire station PLAs the city is currently engaged in that don't have mandatory minority language.
"The difference in what you have passed this evening is that the PLAs from this day forward will have mandatory minority language," Schaive said, addressing the council.
"The ordinance standardizes the procedures and expectations," said Ward 9 Ald. Jim Donelan before the vote. "This ensures that the quality of work on projects will be there. It has guarantees against strikes and lockouts. It standardizes the terms of employment labor, let alone the minority participation numbers that are of utmost importance to this community. It's the right thing to do for the community and the right thing to do for the citizens."
Several alderpersons applauded the laborers for their work around the area in the aftermath of the June 29 derecho and storms and the tornadoes that hit Sherman on March 31.
Homeowner gets a break
Springfield homeowner Julian Randle racked up $38,505 in fines and costs and weed liens on his property in the 2300 block of South 14th Street.
Randle admitted he made mistakes regarding permits, but said he wasn't trying to be malicious or run off from his home.
The house, which he bought for $5,000, turned out to be almost a total rebuild. As COVID came and prices skyrocketed, Randle admitted he got discouraged.
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"I exhausted every single option I had, everyone I know, every family member, every friend to help fix it to the point it is now," Randle said.
He made his share of his mistakes, but "I learned a lot from this house, too," he said.
In an ordinance on Wednesday's debate agenda, Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory requested council members look to reduce Randle's fines to $7,530.
Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath Sr. originally wasn't having any of the argument, noting that relief granted to Randle would "open the faucets" for other homeowners.
Redpath even called Randle "a repeat offender," noting that he owed the city $9,000 in the demo of another house on 10 1/2 Street.
That's when Gregory saw a light in the crack.
The alderman amended the resolution, adding the demo costs to his original figure and arriving at a reduction of $16,530.
Corporation Counsel Greg Moredock said the city would not release its liens on the property until the full amount was paid.
The vote went 7-2 in Randle's favor.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: City of Springfield and firefighters union resolve unfair labor practice
