From left are Ken Ladner, Mayor; Raul Turrieta; and Lee Gruber, director and founder of CLAY Festival. Photo by Roger Lanse.By Roger Lanse
After Silver City Fire Department Chief Milo Lambert stated at the Tuesday, July 11, meeting of the Silver City Town Council, that during June 2017, the SCFD responded to 173 medical emergency calls of which five were transported by the department because of the unavailability of an ambulance from GRMC, Town Manager Alex Brown spoke.
Brown said, “We’ve had an agreement with Gila Regional Medical Center for ‘twenty-something’ years, multiple agreements over time, basically agreeing to be back-up to Gila Regional for EMS. We’re the primary response on EMS calls, but we’re not the transporting entity. We haven’t had an agreement with them for over two years – three-and- a half years, and we haven’t been able to get an agreement with them. As Milo just reported, there was five times we had to transport for them, because they don’t have the staff available to transport. They’re taking our fire vehicles, which are primarily fire response vehicles, out of service. This needs to be put out there now.”
Town Attorney Robert Scavron added, “I’ve been involved in these negotiations for over a year, and it’s not a complicated matter. But, dealing with the hospital has been a nightmare. You talk to one person, they give you one response; you talk to another person, you get another response. And, in the meanwhile, they’re still expecting us to cover the city for them, when, in those situations, where Silver City personnel will have to go on the ambulance because the hospital is showing up without the proper personnel, which is a violation of state law, they don’t even agree to pay us for that.
“I’ve dealt with two of their lawyers. Mr. Marshall (James Marshall, Assistant Town Manager) has been dealing with their employees, with their director, and this is the worst negotiation, I think, that I’ve been in in my 40 years of doing law. Someone up there needs to settle this thing for the public safety of the town. In this case, it’s gotten to the point where people’s lives are being impacted. Instead of just taking from us, they need to contribute to us as well.
“This was not rehearsed, I didn’t know Alex was going to bring this up, But, this has been horribly frustrating and the hospital officials that are in charge of this, they need to address this because there are laws being broken as well.”
District 1 Councilor Cynthia Bettison asked if the town has ever submitted an invoice to the hospital. Brown answered, “No, because we’ve been trying to act in good faith. Gila Regional is the transporting entity and they’re taking our fire personnel. If there was a fire, they wouldn’t be able to respond. Or, if there was another EMS call, they wouldn’t be able to respond. I wasn’t going to say anything, but three-and-a-half years is too long.”
Bettison stated she’s not saying that we should stop providing this service “We can’t,” she said.
“In Silver City, we have a two-tiered system,” Lambert said. The Rescue unit from SCFD is the first responder because it can get on scene faster, he explained. Gila Regional sends an ambulance that is responsible for transporting any patients that need transporting.
Bettison suggested the town should begin sending invoices to the hospital.
Brown added, “We never had any intention of stopping doing what we’re doing, but now we’re getting to the point where we’re actually doing the job for them, and taking us away from doing our job. And that’s why we decided we needed to say something so hopefully they will come to the negotiating table and get this thing cleared up.”
District 2 Councilor Lynda Aiman-Smith suggested getting on the agenda of the next hospital board meeting.
Mayor Ken Ladner proclaimed July 22 through July 30, as CLAY Festival Week. Lee Gruber, director and founder, and Raul Turrieta accepted the proclamation.
Aiman-Smith stated the county is considering allowing off-road vehicles on county streets and District 3 Grant County Commissioner Alicia Edwards is holding a “listening session” regarding the matter on Tuesday, July 19, at the extension offices on Silver Street. She thought the session started at 6 p.m.
District 3 Councilor Jose Ray Jr. stated he would like to see cameras downtown.
Ladner reminded residents that the town is still accepting designs for the “Welcome to Silver City” signs.
Brown reported that from June 2016 through June 29, 2017, 527 pounds of prescription drugs were turned in to the prescription drug kiosk in front of the Office of Sustainability on Pope Street.
Lambert is his report said, “The time for legal ignition of fireworks (in Silver City) is past – no more fireworks.”
A public hearing was held regarding an ordinance to change tracts of land on Yucca Street from commercial zoning to residential A. Purpose for the change was to enable a real estate transaction to be completed. The ordinance was approved.
Aiman-Smith sponsored an ordinance brought before council, which would, according to her, “streamline the processes by which the people go through to apply for business licenses and business registration. We’ve combined that into one process. If there’s some concerns about making it hard, we want to make it easier. There is no change to the general fee for applying. There have been some fee changes in a couple of instances -- for gasoline pumps with a small increase in fees and for wholesale (unintelligible) gasoline there’s been an increase in fees. This ordinance was also approved.
Council approved a resolution approving a Colonias Infratructure loan for a water line on a portion of Highway 15 between U.S. Highway 180 and 32nd Street Bypass. The town’s share will be $40,789 and a grant from the Department of Transportation will be $367,054 for a total of $407,843. DOT will be awarding the bid, according to Brown, and the bid is planned to be let in October 2017, with construction beginning in the spring of 2018.
Ladner appointed Samuel Castillo to the Planning and Zoning Commission.