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Committee debates department reorganization, roles for Joint Ambulance Committee and staffing limits in adopted resolution
Summary
Staff proposed combining emergency management and ambulance operations into a Department of Emergency Services; the committee pressed for clarity on the Joint Ambulance Committee’s duties, debated timing for purchasing ambulances, and asked staff to correct a resolution table that sets staffing limits.
Staff presented draft organizational charts that would combine Richland County Emergency Management and the ambulance service into a single Department of Emergency Services, and committee members discussed the JAC’s role in that structure alongside priorities for 2025–2027.
Brent said the draft places an emergency services chief reporting to county governing authorities, with separate divisions for emergency management and emergency medical services (administration and operations). He noted the organizational charts are drafts and that some positions—such as a captain of operations—are not yet funded.
Several committee members said the Joint Ambulance Committee was not reflected clearly in the draft structure and asked county officials and counsel to provide direction. County participant Mike Wendle (logged in during the meeting) said he would need to review allegations if members claimed a contract or MOU was not being followed.
Members also worked through the committee’s goals and priorities for 2025–2027. They debated moving a subcommittee recommendation about defining JAC duties up the priority list, changing a reference from “beginning in 2026” to “2025,” and clarifying acquisition timing for new ambulances. Members agreed to revise the goals to include a narrower timeline for ambulance acquisition (committee discussion recommended choosing either 2026 or 2027) and to add a work item to perform an assessment of resource deployment (sometimes described as “satellite” or “deployment assessment”) to guide where additional ambulance resources or standby locations would best serve the county.
Committee members also raised staffing approved limits and current staffing levels. A resolution adopted in March 2023 (Resolution 23-23) was cited; members said the table appended to that adopted resolution did not reflect recent committee approvals and asked staff to correct it. Members recited current staffed positions versus limits in the adopted table: six full-time positions currently filled (resolution allows up to nine), five part-time/casual (resolution allows up to 10), 11 paid-on-call (resolution allows up to 30), and two drivers (resolution allows five). Brent said he is constrained by budgeted positions and by what can be afforded, and that he will coordinate with county finance and personnel when positions can be added.
The committee did not adopt final, binding changes to the organizational chart or to the goals at the meeting; members directed staff to rewrite the priorities with the agreed clarifications and to schedule follow-up meetings with county counsel and finance to resolve the committee’s duties and staffing table.
