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Chickasaw County emergency management coordinator barred temporarily from EMS and MEI duties as commission forms job‑description review committee
Summary
The Emergency Management Commission unanimously formed a committee to update EMA/911 job descriptions and voted to bar Coordinator Jeff Bernatz from performing EMS work or taking Medical Examiner Investigator calls until that review is complete.
Jeff Bernatz, coordinator of Chickasaw County Emergency Management, will not perform emergency medical services (EMS) duties or take Medical Examiner Investigator (MEI) calls until the county completes a review of EMA and 911 job descriptions, the Emergency Management Commission voted Feb. 18.
The commission met at 6:15 p.m.; commissioners Steve Geerts, Ryan Shawver, Burt Ostert, Jim Ashley, Randy Taylor, Mark Mueterthies, Shelly Weiss, Jason Tenge, Jimmy Mitchell and Jacob Hackman were listed as present. After a unanimous voice vote to approve the agenda, the meeting moved into a discussion of future EMA funding and staffing.
Commissioner Ryan Shawver opened a funding discussion that mentioned pooled cash options, House Study Bill 689 (HSB 689) and different employee-classification approaches. Bernatz distributed a per-capita chart calculated from the proposed FY27 budget to illustrate what allocations to cities could look like next year.
Shawver also presented EMA and 911 job descriptions from 2018 and said they need updating. Bernatz told the commission he had already begun revising the documents and was proposing to merge EMA and 911 into a single job description.
David Laudner reported he had spoken with the county’s HR attorney about Bernatz performing EMS while serving as EMA coordinator; Laudner said the attorney advised that holding both paid duties concurrently "is not a good idea." The attorney outlined two options: allow Bernatz to run EMS and be paid only during off-duty hours, or add EMS to the EMA job description, which would make EMS work part of his regular duties and bar paid off-duty EMS shifts. Laudner also said Medical Examiner Investigator responsibilities (MEI) would need separate review.
Commissioner Jimmy Mitchell proposed the commission consider separating EMA and 911 functions. Commissioner Randy Taylor urged that hours worked in excess of 40 per week be eligible for flexible time. The commission then voted on two personnel-related motions: to form a review committee and to temporarily restrict Bernatz’s EMS and MEI duties.
A motion by Jim Ashley, seconded by Jason Tenge, appointed a committee to review EMA/911 job descriptions with members Ryan Shawver, Jimmy Mitchell, Shelly Weiss and Jacob Hackman; the motion passed on a recorded unanimous vote. A subsequent motion by Jimmy Mitchell, seconded by Jacob Hackman, that Bernatz would not work for EMS until the job‑description decision was made passed unanimously on recorded vote. A final motion by Mitchell, seconded by Shawver, that Bernatz would not take any MEI calls until the review was complete also passed unanimously.
The commission scheduled its next meeting for May 27, 2026, at 6 p.m. and adjourned at 7:18 p.m.
What happens next: the review committee will consider the two HR‑lawyer options and recommend whether EMA and 911 should be merged or separated and how EMS and MEI duties should be classified; the commission did not set a deadline for the committee’s report.
