Pulaski County Commissioners Approve EMA Call-Out Pay

The Pulaski County Commissioners have agreed to compensate the Emergency Management Agency Director should an after-hours emergency arise. Terri Hansen is the president of the county’s EMA Advisory Board. She says EMA Director Sheri Gaillard staffs a one-person department and is on call 24/7.

“And you know darn well emergencies never happen during the day during work hours ever,” Hansen said. “So what we’re asking is for call-out pay for Sheri. It would be considered time-and-a-half pay for any time that she’s called on an actual emergency. That’s any call. It would be from 911, any local agencies or the state agencies that might need her for anything. You know, chemical spill, fire, just anything that would require her to be there after hours.”

Hansen says Gaillard needs to be fairly compensated if she is called out. The EMA budget includes money for time-and-a-half pay for after-hours emergencies. Hansen says anything that carries over into work hours would be paid at the regular hourly rate.

Last week the commissioners agreed unanimously to pay the EMA director time-and-a-half for a minimum of two hours for any after-hours emergency response call. Gaillard said she’s willing to take comp time if the overtime demands exceed the budget. However, since her request for part-time help was not funded, doing so is challenging.