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Springville resident warns council one-paramedic shifts, low pay are hurting emergency response
Summary
Cooper Clark told the Springville City Council the city routinely has only one paramedic per shift, often loses paramedic coverage during frequent transports, and lags local peers in pay and PTO, contributing to firefighter departures. The council entered the comment into the record.
Cooper Clark, a Springville resident, told the Springville City Council that the city’s emergency-medical staffing leaves residents vulnerable and that pay and benefits are driving firefighters to other departments. "The city currently staffs 1 paramedic per shift," Clark said, adding that Springville’s crews are out on transports "5 to 6 times a day," leaving the city without paramedic coverage for hours.
Clark framed the concern as a redundancy issue: "We don't apply that same principle to other departments in this city, specifically to public safety," he said, urging the council to treat paramedic staffing with the same 'n minus 1' resilience standard used for utilities.
Why it matters: Clark said paramedics are uniquely trained to provide advanced life-saving treatment. He warned that the department’s minimum staffing of four falls short of what is needed to attempt resuscitation during cardiac arrest and to handle concurrent emergencies without mutual aid.
Clark cited retention and compensation data he said show Springville trailing nearby departments. He said the "average entry level pay for a firefighter EMT is 50,000; Springville City pays 49,000," and that paramedic top-out pay elsewhere can reach into the low 90s while Springville’s top is lower. He also said PTO accruals and step progression in Springville are slower than neighboring agencies and that "in the last 24 months, we've had 5 out of the 15 full time firefighters or 5 out of the 18 full time firefighters leave the department."
Council response and next steps: A council member thanked Clark and asked whether he wanted his statement on the record; the council recorded that the comment would be entered into the record and said staff "are very much aware of what you're talking about." No formal council action on staffing, pay or benefits was taken at the meeting.
The council moved later in the agenda into a closed session to discuss property matters; the public-safety concerns raised by Clark were recorded as public comment and available in the meeting record.
