Split vote to raise one paramedic’s pay

WASHINGTON — The Washington County Board of Supervisors elected to raise a paramedic’s pay by $2.89/hour Tuesday morning in a 3-2 vote, an unusual response to a request that would have otherwise moved the employee from full-time to part time.

Interim Department Director Pat Curl said the paramedic, Jeff Lavrenz, told higher-ups he’d be forced to move to part-time work if his pay wasn’t increased, due to personal issues not discussed in the meeting.

“He would not be able to be mandatoried in for overtime, as we’ve had to do lately,” Curl said. “He would go to part time, he’d go off the mandatory list and he’d pick up shifts. He did say if he could get a pay raise, then he could find a way he could be mandatoried in.”

Curl said he was hesitant to endorse the request, in light of recent controversies with the department’s administration and a possibility of litigation in the near future, both of which have created uncertainty for the ambulance service and its leadership.

“I felt the current situation was not one where I should be requesting or supporting any pay raise for anybody until some things get settled out,” the interim director said. “And that’s what I told him. I said if the board approved this particular request, then he could.”

Supervisor Jack Seward Jr. was a vocal proponent of Lavrenz’ raise. He said the paramedic had proved invaluable, with a list of accomplishments that included diagnostic cardiology experience, almost 10 years as a paramedic, and a leadership role on the service’s evidence-based practice and protocol committee, among others.

The county has faced a handful of ambulance department resignations in recent weeks, after concerns within the department came to light with yet-unspecified HR complaints, mostly discussed in closed sessions.

Seward said he was unwilling to exacerbate staff shortages reported by the local department along with virtually every other ambulance service in the area.

“We’ve already had three resignations, and to lose another one … I would like to prevent that,” he said. “I’d like to keep as many as we can, especially the good ones … it would be a good thing for us to keep him on and give him that pay raise.”

Seward said he didn’t expect approval of one request to open floodgates for other paramedics eager to secure a raise.

“If people deserve raises and they make the case for it, then they ought to be considered,” he said. “Make it to the administration at the Washington County Ambulance Service, don’t come directly to us.”

Supervisor Bob Yoder disagreed.

“This is making me nervous,” he said. “You give one person a raise, and then what do you do with the rest of them? Are we opening ourselves up for a mess? I have a real hard time supporting this.”

Curl said he worried inquiries, which would go through him, would overfill the plate of his in-transition office.

“If we start looking at one, we have to start looking at everybody in the process,” he said. “Sometimes as a manager or an employer, you just have to say, ‘I don’t feel you’ve contributed enough to deserve that step increase. As interim director, I don’t feel like it’s appropriate to put that on me … I wasn’t a part of the initial process to evaluate employees in July. To put that on my plate, I think you’re asking an awful lot of me. I’m already doing two jobs.”

Supervisor Marcus Fedler was one of two votes against the pay increase. He said it felt like micromanaging the department, which did not recommend the move, but informed supervisors of Lavrenz’ situation.

“I don’t want to step over your experience as an acting department head in this particular role and say that we know better than you,” he said to Curl. “I’d much rather see … a department head come to us with a recommendation, rather than us force upon a department head a recommendation. I don’t want to set that precedent, I don’t want to be that person.”

Fedler said the county needed to carefully consider its options before moving forward.

"That’s one thing we haven’t done, is give anything time to work out, and I think we need to do that,“ he said. ”Jeff is certainly a qualified employee, absolutely, hate to lose him. I wish it was different.“

Supervisor Stan Stoops, who seconded the motion, said he stood by it, citing Lavrenz’ list of qualifications.

“That’s a big deal, and I think that alone justifies a raise for this young fellow,” he said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com