Scott County on Dec. 5 weighed several public-safety personnel moves intended to stabilize staffing and improve response capacity.

Fire Chief Baker asked the court to approve hiring two lateral firefighters—one to fill a current vacancy and one provisional lateral to provide near-term coverage. Chief Baker said prior provisional hires reduced shortages and that a lateral onboarding timeline would likely be "2 to 3 week[s]" compared to the full recruit process of roughly 14 weeks.

On EMS staffing and compensation, Jeff (county EMS leadership) presented a proposed increase in part-time pay to recruit more shift coverage: raise part-time EMT pay from $12.77 to $14 per hour, advanced EMT from $14.50 to $16, and part-time paramedic from $17.69 to $20. Jeff said the change is intended to make part-time pay more competitive with neighboring agencies and to improve shift coverage; he told the court he had polled staff and received broad support for additional part-time help despite morale concerns around part-time pay exceeding some full-time pay lines.

Georgetown Police asked permission to have Scott County medics join its Special Response Team (SRT) for critical incidents. Officer Crump explained medics would not carry weapons and would wear ballistic protection as needed, and that having a medic in the stack shortens the time to critical care at the scene. The court signaled support for interagency cooperation and asked staff to confirm on-call and overtime implications.

No formal hires or compensation changes were approved at the work session. Staff will return with job descriptions, compensation options and additional cost and coverage analysis for the court to consider at upcoming meetings.