Union letters to the editor

Unhappy with supervisors over ambulance service

The Washington County Board of Supervisors are destroying the Washington County Ambulance Service.

The minutes of the Board of Supervisors in “The Southeast Iowa Union,” “The News”and on KCII Radio indicate the micro-managing of the Ambulance Department and waste of money to Washington Co. taxpayers in handling personnel matters. The board unanimously and ILLEGALLY voted to place the ambulance director on “unpaid administrative leave.” The board had to rescind the unpaid leave after hiring counsel outside the county found they had acted illegally. We have a PAID county attorney. Why is the board wasting tax payer money to hire another attorney? The county also pays a Human Resources employee, but has found it necessary to hire other Human Resource personnel from ISAC for investigations. In addition to one Human Resource consultant outside the county, the board is considering hiring still ANOTHER HR service, INCS, at a cost of $950 PER MONTH! WHY are they wasting MORE taxpayer money?

The board appointed the administrative assistant to oversee the ambulance service while the director is on paid administrative leave. Due to lack of respect by the board, the assistant administrator RESIGNED.

Supervisors say they’ve heard negative feedback about the Basic Life Support truck, specifically concerning a transport from the University of Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska. How does a county citizen even know about who or where the truck is transporting? Were the complaints from disgruntled employees who went against the chain of command set forth in the handbook? At no time was the county 911 staff compromised. The department profit for that single transfer was $2,470.98. Additional units remained available for all calls during that nine-hour period.

In a letter of no confidence to the board, read by Mike Freel, (part-time employee and brother-in-law of Supervisor Bob Yoder, conflict of interest?) he stated that the morale of the employees was low. The Supervisors voted to give ONE paramedic a nearly $3.00 increase in salary. How does that improve morale among the other employees?

At an earlier meeting, Supervisors said they could NOT pay the director for any of his 840 hours of overtime because if they did that for one director they would have to do the same for all other departments.

On a ZOOM meeting, Supervisor Richard Young said that he had sold the buildings and assets, but he still retained the Washington County Ambulance Inc name. Therefore, he could purchase an ambulance and start his own service at any time. THAT is a conflict of interest. Supervisor Young should recuse himself on ANY and ALL decisions concerning the present Washington County Ambulance Service.

It's time to hold the Board of Supervisors accountable for their waste of taxpayer money and inexcusable actions concerning the Washington County Ambulance Service.

Dana Peck

Joyce Smith

Nick Smith

Michelle Shalla

Art Peck

Katie Detweiler

Merle Bontrager

Fern Bontrager

Joshua Kelley

Dan Flynn

Judy Sieren

Jessica Yoder

Carston Yoder

Karen Sypherd

Rebecca Bush

Chris Swartz

Tammy Swartz

Amber Swartz

Brian Peck

Cathy Conway

Bob Goodrich

Heath West

Angela West

Anthony Martin

Shannon Wander

Kurt Rosbacka

Robert Kanagy

George Schultz

Jesse Gingerich

Protecting all rights

We the people of Iowa have not lost our mind, we were tricked.

On November 8, we sent a clear message of our values that we want protected to DC.

But once our red wave delegation is in DC, we are out of sight and out of mind.

Senator Joni Ernst and three representatives, Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn quickly joined Democrats to support their Respect for Marriage Act.

Democrats never abandon their beliefs.

In 1996, the Senate passed the Defense of Marriage Act 85-14, the House passed it 342-67, Bill Clinton signed the law that limits marriage to one man and one woman.

The 2022 Iowa Republican Party Platform clearly reads that we (Iowa Republicans) believe traditional marriage is best for a healthy civilization.

We thought we were electing republicans and gave them campaign money.

Turns out they’re only Obama’s lil carnival barkers helping democrats with their fundamental transformation of America.

This whole LBGTQ movement is huge, in our schools, and our own Mt. Pleasant Iowa Wesleyan College holds a Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil and Transgender Awareness Week.

No recognizing traditional values that made our country strong and prosperous.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said this marriage bill is personal to him, his daughter’s wife is going to have a baby.

Let’s put this stuff to rest and move onto something important.

No more discrimination of any type, marry who or what you love, your dog, your cat, your donkey, your truck or motorcycle and as many as you love.

Then move forward with child’s rights, enter only a gender neutral first name and leave the rest of the birth certificate for the child to record.

When they’re ready they can decide what day to celebrate, receive cards and gifts, their preferred gender, race and even who their parents are.

Don’t worry, these pseudo-republicans will come back from Washington in two years begging for campaign dollars so they can again represent our Iowa family traditions in DC.

Leland Graber

Wayland

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