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Emergency services seeks six new EMS/fire personnel, replacement in-vehicle computers and station upgrades
Summary
Emergency Services requested six firefighter/paramedic positions to staff a fifth medic unit, a new fire inspector position and capital investments including replacement mobile data terminals, station HVAC, exercise equipment and a fire-extinguisher training simulator.
Chief Troy (Emergency Services) told the board the department is fully staffed for the first time in years but needs expansion to meet call volume and response demands. He asked commissioners to approve three additional firefighter-paramedic positions and three firefighter-EMT positions to staff a fifth medic unit from Station 3 on Harmony Church, relieving pressure on ambulances covering the 400 Corridor.
The nut graf: the personnel requests are tied to operational gaps — Station 2’s ambulance is frequently unavailable, leaving Dawsonville uncovered — and the chief said the county already has a fifth med unit vehicle but needs personnel and some equipment to put it into regular service.
Capital requests included replacing all mobile data terminals (MDTs) in vehicles because Microsoft will stop security updates for Windows 10 and the current vehicle computers cannot accept Windows 11; the chief presented a $175,000 estimate for replacement hardware and mounting. He described those MDTs as required for CAD dispatch and 8–10 years of expected service life. Other capital and operating requests: station furnishings and exercise equipment to prevent injuries (the chief described a chair failure that caused a long injury), lockers for personnel, a fire-extinguisher training simulator intended for public education and schools (department has applied for grants twice without success), and HVAC replacement at Station 1 (22-year-old heat pump with uneven heating zones).
The chief also requested $75,000 for a “standards-of-cover” study to evaluate deployment and service standards; the board was asked to decide whether to fund that study. Operational line items flagged for increase included medical supplies (+$10,000) and billing company fees (+$30,000), reflecting increased call volume and collections.
Commissioners and staff discussed how many training slots had been completed under a leadership program the department runs and whether training funding should be reduced from $15,000 to $10–12,000; the chief recommended a modest reduction to reflect course completion status. No formal vote on personnel or capital additions was recorded at the session.
If granted, the personnel additions would create ongoing salary and benefit costs and require recruitment; some capital items could be funded through Splosh or by reallocating existing IT replacement funds, per board discussion.
