Keith County EMS chief discloses outside business, outlines shift changes and staffing plans

At the Keith County Board of Commissioners meeting, EMS Chief Jordan disclosed ownership interest in a private vehicle-upfitting business and told commissioners he had been asked to install emergency lighting on a county roads vehicle — a potential conflict he placed on the agenda for formal disclosure.

Jordan also described operational changes in the county’s emergency medical services. He said the service will move to a new shift rotation that reduces the total daily coverage by removing an on-call position; the change is intended to improve mental-health outcomes for full-time crews and reduce overtime costs. Jordan said the department aims to cut at least 800 overtime hours over the next year and acknowledged there may be delays in response to some second or third calls while volunteer fire departments are trained and enlisted to help bridge coverage gaps.

Jordan said the EMS will add a new paramedic who will begin "the 27th" and noted the county will work with local volunteers to increase coverage and training. He also asked whether staff had received an email about suicide-awareness and prevention programming available at 9 a.m. that day; he indicated a follow-up link could be emailed to employees.

Why it matters: the changes reflect operational trade-offs between workforce health, overtime costs and response reliability. The disclosure of the EMS chief’s outside business was recorded as a transparency measure ahead of a future agenda item to consider whether he may perform work on county vehicles.

What’s next: Jordan said he will put the vehicle-upfitting request on a future agenda for formal consideration and the board directed staff to include the disclosure and to schedule the item.