Another Pulaski County EMS paramedic will be allowed keep her seniority from a previous full-time tenure, but whether that becomes an official part of the county’s policies remains to be seen. EMS Director Brandon DeLorenzo told the county council last week that the paramedic dropped down to part-time for about a month but now wants to go back to full-time.
Attracting and retaining staff is a challenge for many EMS providers. Council President Ken Boswell said that while he doesn’t want the county to become a revolving door, he felt it’s good to encourage good employees who want to come back The county council ultimately approved the request, with Tim Overmyer opposing.
This is the second exception the council has granted for the EMS department in recent months. The county’s Matrix Rules don’t currently allow employees to keep their seniority if they leave full-time employment and then return. Some council members want to change that, and County Attorney Kevin Tankersley agreed that reviewing the policies is a good idea.
“It’s a situation where, obviously, the majority of the board thought it didn’t make a lot of sense to stop this employee from being hired back,” Tankersley noted. “So we should probably look at that policy rather than be stuck with the language that we, in all honesty, came up with kind of at a moment’s notice to just define the matrix because we were having trouble with the matrix.”
As a first step, Tankersley suggested that council members email him with suggested changes. Creating a formal committee would require that meetings be open to the public, with advance notice.
