Public sounds off in support of firefighters

Kalispell residents are fired up about a potential change in city ambulance service.

Firefighters and their supporters came out en masse Monday night to protest possible Fire Department layoffs and an end to the city-run ambulance service.

Monday’s City Council meeting attracted a standing-room-only crowd.

Thirty-seven people spoke in favor of the firefighters; only one spoke in favor of the city during the hour-and-a-half of public comment.

City Manager Jane Howington has said that a recent arbitration ruling favoring firefighters would cost the city $690,000 over three years and could force the city to lay off at least six firefighters and outsource the city’s ambulance service.

Howington was the target of a number of comments Monday night. She responded at the end of the council meeting around 10:30 p.m. when most of those who spoke were long gone.

Also speaking at the close of the meeting, Mayor Tammi Fisher said the city is operating with a level-based budget, which is the same at last year’s. Fisher said the city essentially has the same amount of money for firefighting and emergency services, but has added salary increases as a result of the arbitrator’s decision.

“Barring a public safety levy, I don’t know how we make it all fit,” she said. 

F. Ray Ruffatto, secretary for the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 547, said the union “requested the city come back to bargaining table,” but had not yet received a response.

After the meeting, Howington said the city received a letter Monday that the union would like to further discuss the impacts of the arbitrator’s decision. Howington said the city hasn’t decided yet exactly what the impacts will be.

Theresa Macklin said she has lived in communities that have privatized their ambulance services and they don’t meet the quality that Kalispell provides.

“You do not have a budget crisis, you have a moral crisis,” Roxanne Brothers said. “The goal is to break the unions.”

She said the city should look at its spending, adding that the city spent $100,000 to retire the previous city manager’s contract. “You’re not bargaining in good faith and that is a crime,” she said.

Adrianne Newlon questioned why the city pursued a federal grant that allowed it to hire three firefighters, when it now could turn around and lay them off.

Martin Birk, a member of the board of trustees for Smith Valley Fire Department, said mutual aid calls for emergency service providers surrounding Kalispell would increase if the city outsources its ambulance service.

Jill Cheman, Smith Valley fire chief and an employee of West Flathead Emergency Medical Service, said that ambulance service provider is not prepared to absorb increased call volume.

Boyd Roth was the only person who spoke in favor of the city’s position.

Roth requires dialysis and said he was brought to Kalispell Regional Medical Center 27 times last year, mainly by Evergreen Fire Rescue but also by Kalispell Fire Department. Two people help and one stands around, he said of Kalispell, questioning the efficiency of this policy.

“Kalispell Fire Department is trying to do a fear factor on you,” he said.

Other comments from Monday’s meeting include:

• Ginny Stewart said she’s appalled the city is even considering laying off firefighters. “The highest-paid salary should go to the firefighters and police.”

• Dr. Richard Briles, and emergency room physician at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, said he is amazed at the high level of care of emergency medical services in Flathead County. He said it’s on par with San Diego, where he used to live, and Seattle, and expressed concern about any contraction of service.

Flathead’s County’s emergency medical service is better than anywhere in the state, he said. “If you cut personnel, it will definitely impact care, especially in the northern part of the county.”

• Kalispell firefighter Scott Williams said the model for emergency medical services is changing.

“We provide immediate care on scene,” Williams said, noting ambulances used to just take the patient to the hospital as quickly as they could.

• Byron Guy said he spent 20 years with Kalispell Fire Department and is more responsible for their EMS than any other person. He questioned “someone from the outside making a decision” to cut firefighters. “The city manager is to serve at your will.”

• Roger Phillips said he served 21 years with Kalispell Fire Department and noted Kalispell has had an ambulance service since the 1930s. “We’re kind of a trend-setter.”

He said Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls and Missoula each have approached Kalispell in the past to ask how to get a city-run ambulance service. “Private companies won’t give it up,” he said. Those cities, along with Butte and Helena, are served by private ambulance services.

“City managers come and go,” Phillips said. “I’m sure as time goes on and the resume is built ... this manager too will leave.”

• Joanne Blake said the city manager doesn’t save her life and her health. She encouraged council members to compare firefighters’ wages to other city employees’ wages.

A few in the audience responded with whoops and hollers after Blake spoke, which didn’t go over well with Mayor Fisher.

“Folks, if you think I’m not going to exit this room, try me,” Fisher said. It was the second time Fisher admonished the crowd, which quieted down for the remainder of the meeting.

• Benjamin Graham said the Kalispell Fire Department has had a long-term issue in retaining employees. “You’re creating the problem you’re trying to address,” he said. “If you maintain 30 firefighters, you’ll still lose half in five years because no one has job security.” This costs money in training, along with experience and knowledge, he said.

• Heather Pierce formerly served on Evergreen Fire Rescue for three years and now is a mother. “I don’t care who has money for what. I care about safety,” she said, noting she gave up her gym membership so she could drive a Chevrolet Suburban.

“Do we need to start selling brownies? Is there something we have to do because the city can’t get their [expletive] together? Let me know.“

• Mike Corbett asked: “How many people are going to die because $690,000 couldn’t be drummed up by cutting other areas of the budget? The value of a life is what’s at stake here.”

Others said the city should cut from other departments to save firefighters’ positions.

However, Howington said the city can’t do that legally. It can only take money from the general fund and give it to other funds, such as the fire department and ambulance funds. But doing so would adversely impact the city’s cash reserves.

Council member Duane Larson said he received 28 calls in the previous three days about the firefighters’ situation.

“Two calls supported the city’s position,” he said. “They all want us to get the money from some other department and not an increase in taxes,” he said. “The firefighters are saying our numbers are not correct. I have to go with the city numbers. I don’t feel qualified to question them,” he said.

Howington said the city’s finance director met with the firefighters’ financial representative Monday.

“Rumors are rampant,” she said. “We’re not shutting off the ambulance without a lot of input. We’re also not going to expose the citizens to unsafe response times.”

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.