Calif. city rejects $1M paramedic, firefighter grant

By Kevin Valine
The Modesto Bee

MODESTO, Calif. — The Modesto City Council on Tuesday turned down a $1.08 million grant that would have paid for a dozen firefighters to become paramedics after an emotional roller coaster of a discussion that lasted more than two and a half hours.

Council members Kristi Ah You and Tony Madrigal cast the only “yes” votes to accept the Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, while the five other council members voted “no.”

“This is an incredible opportunity to invest in our Fire Department, in our guys,” Ah You said to the other council members before the council vote. And “we don’t have to pay for it. ... This is so easy people.”

But the council majority followed the recommendation of City Manager Jim Holgersson and Fire Chief Sean Slamon not to accept the grant, over concerns of the grant’s timing and cost. Still, it was a difficult decision for the council, with more than 50 firefighters and their supporters in the audience. And more than a dozen speakers implored the council to take the grant, recounting stories of how firefighters trained as paramedics arrived just in time to help loved ones in distress.

Some speakers said the Chamber of Commerce and American Medical Response — which operates ambulances staffed with paramedics in the city — were behind the recommendation that the council not accept the grant. The chamber has come out with a list of public safety recommendations for the city, including holding off expanding the Fire Department’s paramedic program.

One speaker asked whether Councilman Doug Ridenour had a financial interest in this decision because he had once worked for an ambulance company that later was acquired by AMR. Ridenour said he had no financial interests and had stopped working for Mobile Life Support in the late 1980s.

Speakers said Slamon is a strong advocate for expanding paramedic services and had been bullied into recommending the council not accept the grant. “I think it’s a shame that our fire chief cannot do what is right for his Fire Department and the constituents he serves,” former Councilwoman Stephanie Burnside said.

Slamon denied he had been coerced, and Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer chastised those who believe that. “I was mortified,” she said, to “disrespect the chief so much to think that he was bullied.”

Modesto City FireFighters Association President Jair Juarez also weighed in, telling the council: “I’m disappointed that our fire chief choose not to support this grant,” adding that his staff had spent a lot of time on it and that the city’s senior executives knew about the grant months ago but only recently informed the council about it, a claim Holgersson said was not true.

Holgersson said a lot has changed since the Fire Department applied for the grant in early 2016, including the election of Mayor Ted Brandvold and the recommendations issued in June by Brandvold’s budget review committee. Those recommendations include reviewing emergency medical services provided by the city and AMR, a review that is expected to take a year.

Holgersson said it would not make sense to expand the Fire Department’s paramedic program before doing the review, which could find less expensive and more effective ways of delivering emergency medical services. He added that the city’s general fund budget — which primarily funds public safety — is under stress and the city also had recently taken on other financial commitments, including new agreements with its labor groups and increasing police staffing from 218 to 240 officers.

Modesto firefighters are required to be emergency medical technicians but 18 of them are paramedics and provide a higher level of care in medical emergencies, such as strokes and heart attacks. The FEMA grant would have expanded the number of paramedics to 30. The grant required a 10 percent — or $108,000 — match from the city but would have paid for the paramedic training, equipment and overtime for the firefighters who filled in for those in school.

Slamon told the council once the 12 firefighters had been trained as paramedics they would have cost Modesto about $85,000 annually, which includes 6 percent incentive pay, supplies and continuing education.

Tuesday’s decision comes after the council last week accepted a $2.2 million Staffing for Fire Emergency and Response grant from FEMA. The grant will pay for hiring nine firefighters for two years and the city expects to incur about $421,000 in its own costs over the grant’s two years. Council members voted 7-0 to accept the SAFER grant.

And the council next week is expected to consider accepting a $1.5 million federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant that will help offset the costs of increasing police staffing. The Department of Justice announced this week that Modesto had been awarded the grant.

Council members told audience members they appreciated what they had say and the value in providing the community with paramedics. But council members also said they had to look at the bigger picture and that included the cost to the city. “I support the paramedic program,” Councilman Bill Zoslocki said. ... “But here’s the problem. It’s a worthwhile goal, but I don’t see it as being sustainable.”

Holgersson also pointed out that speakers had made it appear as though only Modesto firefighters were providing paramedic care throughout the city and he said that was not the case. He also said if the city determines that expanding the number of paramedics makes sense it can hire firefighters who are paramedics as vacancies become available.

Copyright 2016 The Modesto Bee